Officials with the Absolute Dental Lab in North Carolina wanted to do something bigger than simply creating exceptional dental prosthetics and ceramics. So officials in the dental office formed the non-profit organization called the Absolute Care Foundation. The Foundation’s goal is to change lives of the people they help. The Foundation is reaching its goals and helping one deserving Willow Springs family with an extreme home makeover.

“We started the Absolute Care Foundation to not only change lives, but also get to get our team and our community involved,” Ginny Mueller, an executive administrator with Absolute Dental Lab, said. “We wanted to show everyone how much value there is in giving.”

After the Absolute Care Foundation was founded, the organization was put in contact with the Griffis family.

In 2006, Gwen Griffis lost both her husband and her mother to cancer. However, the Griffis’ family tragedy did not end there. In January 2012, Gwen Griffis also lost her 17-year-old son to cancer as well. The loss of her husband and her son have taken a major toll on Gwen Griffis and her other two children Carmen, 9, and Nicholas, 10.

“Faced with huge medical bills, many days off work, and two other children to care for, Gwen and her children Carmen, and Nicholas have been struggling,” Russ Davis, co-director of the Absolute Care Foundation, said. “That’s where we (Absolute Care) come in. We’re doing an ‘extreme home makeover’ for the Griffis family to help improve their living conditions and give them hope.”

Absolute Care Foundation officials knew they had to help the Griffis family.

“Being a cancer survivor himself, Conrad Rensburg (co-owner of Absolute Dental Services and co- creator of the Absolute Care Foundation, along with his business partner Drew) knew he had to do something to help them,” Mueller said. He wanted to touch the family’s hearts, to restore not only their house, but their hope, joy, and faith.”

The Foundation has been hard at work making improvements on the family’s home. The organization has completed multiple house inspections, plumbing repair, septic tank pumping, and water and well testing.

“We have a company on board to replace the flooring inside the entire house; we have another company working on the walls and ceilings. We have other local companies who are donating dumpster use, storage unit use, moving truck use, and rental car use, among many other things,” Mueller said.

However, the bulk of the work on the home has not been completed yet.

“We are going to send the Griffis’ out of town for the week of August 6 through the August 12. During that week we will be working on the house night and day, and we will reveal the house to the Griffis family at noon on August 12^.”

The Absolute Care Foundation is looking for volunteers and donations to help complete this project.

“If anyone in the community has household items, furniture (from dressers to rugs to bath towels to dishes to decorations), or anything else that they would like to donate, we would be so sincerely appreciative,” Mueller said. “Any donations that are not used for this project will be donated back to the local community. Gift cards to home improvement and home decoration stores would also be valuable. If anyone wants to donate money to the project, they can also visit our website at www.absolutecares.org . We will also need volunteers for August 11 and 12. If anyone is interested they can fill out a form on our website (under “Get Involved!”) and we will give them more information.”

Mueller said Foundation officials are getting excited about the near completion of the project.

“Now that we are nearing the completion of the project, we are all feeling very excited! The best part of it all is that we know we are going to change their lives forever. Seeing the hope and joy on Gwen, Nicolas, and Carmen’s faces has been the best reward for our hard work. We are very much looking forward to handing the house back over to them. We are making a real and lasting difference in the lives of a family that truly deserves it!”