CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Elderly sisters in Charlotte are now safer and breathing a sigh of relief after a volunteer group made some needed repairs to their home. 

What You Need To Know 

Every year Canopy Realtor Association holds Realtors Care Day - an initiative to preserve housing in the Charlotte metro area 

Cynthia Blunt moved into her Villa Heights home in 1967 after her home in Brooklyn Village was torn down 

Newer, more expensive homes in Blunt’s neighborhood are forcing property taxes up, putting minor repairs out of the question with her fixed budget 

Volunteers repaired Blunt’s wheelchair ramp and replaced storm doors 

Volunteers with Canopy Realtor Association fixed up 15 homes and community centers throughout the Charlotte metro area in April for Realtors Care Day.

The annual project is an initiative to preserve affordable housing in the region.

One home they worked on in Villa Heights belongs to Cynthia Blunt and her sister. Both women have disabilities and have lived there since 1967.

Blunt got emotional when she thanked volunteers.

“If it wasn’t for them, this house would fall in shambles, and I don’t have the money to keep it up,” she said through tears.

She gets by solely because of her disability income.

Volunteers repaired the home’s wheelchair ramp, painted and replaced storm doors.

Blunt and her sister are already facing rising property taxes because of new homes in the neighborhood, so the repairs were simply out of their budget.

Volunteer Captain Melissa Zimmerman says when she arrived at Blunt’s home, she discovered the ramp in front of her house doesn't have proper support underneath, so it caves when anyone walks or rolls a wheelchair on it.

Her biggest concern is their safety.

“If something were to happen inside that home, and they had to get out, they can’t,” Zimmerman said. “And, with the ramp that they have right now, it’s just not safe.”

Volunteers fixed the ramp temporarily, but have spent the last month working to get a completely new one for the home — one that’s compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.