By ERICK PETERSON • Hermiston Herald

As Heather Spinden stepped out onto her lawn and looked at her Hermiston home, she said she felt overwhelmed.

“It’s just so beautiful,” she said.

Heather Spinden lives with her youngest son. She said she has multiple health problems and her son, a full-time Burger King employee, has autism.

Built in 1907, her home has four bedrooms, two baths and 1,164 square feet of space. It is a couple of doors down from the Hermiston Public Library and is a stone’s throw away from the Hermiston City Hall, currently under construction.

The place did not look quite so attractive until recently, according to its owner. Spinden said kind and generous members of her community stepped up to make it into the place it is today.

Holly Woods and Josh Ross, an engaged couple, residents of Hermiston, told the rest of the story.

Ross explained he attended school with Heather Spinden’s son, Ben Spinden, starting in elementary school and continuing to high school graduation. After graduation, Ross left town.

He did not stay gone, however. Ross returned, and one winter he saw his old classmate walking down the street. He picked Ben Spinden up, drove him to his home and met his mom.

Josh Ross said he recalls looking around the home. It needed repair, he said, and this family could benefit from a little assistance. He passed this information onto Woods, who he was dating.

“We needed to do something, and it kind of snowballed from there,” Ross said.

Ross and Woods explained they started by giving the Spindens a Christmas basket. But they felt they needed to do more. That is when they had an idea to paint the exterior of the house.

They brought a contractor to the home, though, and learned the siding was not good enough to paint. And new siding was just the start of a laundry list of needs. The house needed roofing, a new chimney, flooring and more.

Fortunately, Ross and Woods were in a position to help. Woods brought the project up to her workplace, Academy Mortgage in Hermiston. It has, she said, helped people through service programs, and her boss thought Academy could help improve the Spindens’ home.

This came at a good time for the Spindens. Their home had problems, and their homeowner’s insurance dropped them last summer.

Suddenly, people wanted to help.

Through contacts, Ross and Woods, along with Academy, started attracting more help. An employee of Ross-Brandt Electric Inc., Ross was able to get his family’s company on board with this effort. More people and companies followed, as they posted this work on Facebook, distributed flyers and made phone calls.

Cost Less Carpet donated the flooring, C & C Construction Services Inc. provided much of the roofing and other companies stepped up, too. Ross-Brandt provided workers, as did some other companies. Jimmy’s Johns Portable Toilets Inc., offered its services, and other people gave what they could.

Over $100,000 was given in donations, including around $40,000 in cash, Woods said. Enough money was left from donations to pay Heather Spinden’s medical bills.

“We didn’t expect this,” Woods said. She added that the Spindens never asked for this help, but people gave it freely.

Heather Spinden said she has a lot of good feelings about her community because of this work.

“We feel so humbled and blessed,” she said. “We’re so happy that they’ve made it so we can enjoy this home, and we’re going to enjoy it, one day at a time.”