Texas: Community Unites to Make AIDS Hospice Bigger, Better

Doug's House, a hospice for people with AIDS, opened in 1989. Owned by the nonprofit group Project Transitions, the five-bedroom structure began showing wear and tear over the years.

Charlotte Hale, Project Transition's executive director, said the agency was making plans to remodel the building when Steve Bartholomew of Main Street Homes suggested that rather than undergo a renovation, Doug's House be bulldozed and rebuilt. He and his wife, Michelle, began recruiting other donors for the project. One Austin company tore down the 1,900-square-foot house for free; another donated the new home's foundation. One business put on a free roof; other companies offered their services at cost. To date, contractors and supporters have donated about $100,000 in services to the $240,000 project.

Residents at the home were relocated during the rebuilding, which will result in a new 2,900-square-foot structure, still with five bedrooms, but with a larger living room and kitchen, bigger bedrooms, skylights, handicapped-accessible bathrooms, large back and front porches and landscaped grounds.

"It will make this house workable," said Hale, who noted that it "has been amazing for me to see all the support we're getting from the community."

The hospice was named for Doug Key, a major supporter of Project Transitions from the 1980s until his death from AIDS in 1991. Doug's House will reopen in mid-September. For more information, telephone Charlotte Hale at 512-454-8646.

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