A Room Makeover With REAL Meaning

When Barb Morrical’s telephone rang on the summer afternoon of July 30, 2014, the thought never crossed her mind that it would be REAL Services on the other end congratulating her and her husband, Guy, for winning the REAL Room Makeover Grand Prize. “Are you kidding me?” she said to the caller. There was tremendous excitement that filled the telephone line.

Before the $25,000 Room Makeover,
the Morricals had a lovely deck
at the back of their house.

“We’ve always supported REAL Services through the raffle, but never thought we would win!” Barb said when asked what her reaction was to winning. The decision for Guy and Barb Morrical to build their home of 18 years, stemmed from wanting to help Guy’s mother stay independent and out of a nursing home. “We built this house in 1996 and moved my mother in with us” Guy explained. “But once she moved in, she was here three months and was not happy. She wanted to be back in her own house. That’s when REAL Services began to help us out.” REAL Services helped Guy’s mother cope with her Parkinson’s disease and stay independent in her home from October 1996 to December 2000. Guy and Barb have been supporters ever since.

Now they are looking forward to
family gatherings in their
beautiful new year-round space.

Barb, a retired first-grade teacher, also explained her fondness for REAL Services’ Meals on Wheels program. “During the holidays, I would have my first-graders make cards to put in the Meals on Wheels lunches that would be delivered to the seniors,” Barb disclosed. The fact that the raffle was benefiting Meals on Wheels was another reason they chose to enter five tickets into the raffle this year. Barb and Guy have both had long time teaching careers in the South Bend community; Barb teaching first grade for 30 years until she retired in 2012 and Guy teaching high school math until retiring in 2002.

Located in a quiet residential neighborhood in Granger, Indiana, you can see the memories that this house contains. Countless pictures of family and treasured child artwork line the walls and the refrigerator to illuminate Guy and Barb’s most prized possession… family. Family is the reason they chose to spend their grand prize home makeover on a particular part of their house. 

Guy and Barb renovated their outdoor patio into a four season sunroom. “We’ve always wanted a sunroom and we want to make more space for when family visits,” Barb stated when asked why they chose this part of the house to renovate. The sunroom will have air conditioning for the summertime and will also have heat to enjoy the space during the winter. Together, Guy and Barb have two daughters and five grandchildren with whom they love spending time.  You can see the gleam in both of their eyes as they look at the finish product and how many cherished memories will continue to be made in their home.

The fifth annual REAL Room Makeover Raffle sold more tickets than ever before and grossed a record-breaking $93,150. Net proceeds from the raffle will be used to support the Meals on Wheels program of REAL Services.  The program delivers nutritionally balanced meals to homebound people who are unable to prepare their own meals. REAL Services is grateful to everyone who participated in the raffle and made it such a successful event! 

The sixth annual raffle will begin in May, 2015 with another $25,000 room makeover grand prize. Congratulations to all the prize winners this year and good luck to all those who choose to enter next year’s drawing.