In his 89 years of life, Andy Eperjesi has seen a lot of things and worn a lot of hats.
The Kentucky native worked the coal mines, spent years at Texas Instruments, worked jobs at Walmart and Enterprise, and, in his spare time, spent 25 years volunteering to preach to inmates at the Denton County Jail.
All of those jobs, like many in his generation, came after serving his country on the tail end of World War II in the Army.
"In the boat battalion,” said Eperjesi. “They trained us how to land in surf, take people off of boats and land them on the shore."
The proudest moments of his long life are clear though looking at the walls of his home of 50 years in Lewisville: his family.
Married for 62 years, Andy and his wife had more than a half dozen kids who have now raised grandkids of their own, and now bring him great-grand kids to visit.
It’s just Andy at the house these days though. His wife passed away in 2010, and in recent years Andy’s health and age have caught up with him; leaving that family house in rough shape.
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The paint was peeling, rust had formed, and his wife’s beloved gardens had become over grown and lost most of their signature beauty.
That’s something Keri Sutherland couldn’t stand to see.
"One of the things he said to me in the initial interview was, 'I just want to see them [the gardens] how my wife would have liked them,” said Sutherland.
So Sutherland, a manager at Habitat for Humanity Denton County, took on Andy for the organization’s new “Brush with Kindness” program.
Along with their usual mission of building homes for those in need, Brush with Kindness brings in volunteers and raises funds to help fix up the homes and yards of folks like Eperjesi who just can’t manage on their own anymore.
Volunteers from Thrivent Financial, Frontier Communications, and Flower Mound United Methodist Church spent the weekend at Andy’s house repainting, repairing the deck and siding, leveling out the 89 year-old’s yard, and maybe most importantly: fixing up his wife’s gardens and beginning to replant the beauty that once grew there.
"This is wonderful,” said Andy’s daughter Karen Culpepper, “these people have worked so hard, they're so dedicated."
After years of working for others, Andy finally got the chance to sit back while others worked for him; smiling as his home transformed thanks to the kindness of strangers.
Denton County Habitat already has future Brush with Kindness events scheduled as well as a full list of home builds as they pursue their goal to build 50 homes in the next 5 years.
