Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
CENTERVILLE — Saturday was quite the day for Jil Ingram.
It's not that she is bad at home repairs, it's just hanging a towel rack in a bathroom took longer than she thought.
"I have been trying to get this screw in for like three and a half hours," she said, just as the rack fell to the floor again. "I told you."
No matter how many times it takes, though, she knows this project is more than just hanging a towel rack.
"It is about everybody that is going through a lot in their own lives. We get to leave it behind and come here and make a difference in someone else's life," Ingram said.
'Neighbors helping neighbors'
The house Ingram was at off Doris Circle in Centerville isn't her home. It belongs to the Peterson family, who could use a little help. That is where the group Little Miracles comes in.
"One of our slogans that we say now is just neighbors helping neighbors," said Tiani Shoemaker, founder of Little Miracles.
The goal of the charitable group is to positively help single-parent families. In the past 10 years, Little Miracles has helped more than 150 Utah families.
'A warrior mother'
In this case, it was the single mother of four children whose husband died a few years ago.
"She has just been a warrior mother. She has got her oldest on a mission, amazing kids, full of life, and a lot of trauma," Shoemaker said.
So when Little Miracles heard her story and how the family home could use a little love, it is what the group does best.
Dozens of volunteers were renovating the family home for the past few days while the family was away. The family knew work was being done, but they don't know what it was going to look like until they arrived home Saturday afternoon.
"They are going to walk in here and not even recognize this place," volunteer Chris Myers said Saturday morning.
It is that moment, which is usually full of happy tears, that makes all this hard work worth it.
"I literally, it makes me happy," Myers said.
It's why Ingram was still smiling after all those tries to get a towel rack on the wall correctly.
"It is a lot of fun," she said. "It just a way to give something big to something so much bigger."
And the family was all smiles when they returned to see all of the efforts that had been made in their behalf. Traci Peterson was full of gratitude afterward.
"To have a new beginning after such a long journey in life, it gives me hope that change is possible, miracles happen, and people are so good and kind," she said. "I mean this is unbelievable!"
