Sharron Gaspard is deaf and mute. Her husband, Tommy Lee, is hearing impaired and minimally communicative. They live together with their three young sons, ages 3, 2 and 14 months, in a home on Landry Drive in New Iberia that was chosen as the United Way of Iberia’s major project for its Day of Caring Saturday.

United Way director Gloria Girouard said the agency enlisted the help of the city’s compliance department to find a home in the community in need of tender loving care.

She said the Gaspard’s home was in deplorable condition the first time she visited. Hurricane Ike caused major roof damage, which was never fixed because the couple’s FEMA check was stolen by a family member. Girouard said it was practically raining inside.

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“Critters could come in the back door with no invitation,” Girouard said. “The front door was actually an inside door that had been placed there. The bathroom was completely rotten.”

She said the couple lives on disability, but, by the end of most months, all the money is gone. Their boys all have normal hearing, Girouard said. The couple are good parents, “so very loving.”

The children are having some developmental speech issues, Girouard said, due to the lack of conversation in the house. The United Way has pledged to find the family as many resources as they can to help them. Cargill Deicing has adopted the family for the year to continue construction projects that were not completed Saturday.

The family has been staying at a local motel for a week. Big projects were addressed at the property before Saturday.

“I’ve told them (the Gaspards) but they can’t really visualize what’s happening here,” Girouard said. “They are so happy and so grateful. They sign that they love me every time I see them.”

United Way Board President Dr. Tynes Mixon was on hand for the Landry Drive project and said participating in the Day of Caring has been “so much fun.”

“The end result is just phenomenal,” he said. “It just broke my heart to see what this family was living in.”

Volunteer groups fanned out across the parish to accomplish major projects at three sites.

United Way Campaign and Relations Director Corleen Rouly said volunteer groups started at 7 a.m. She said there was a team working at the Council on Aging office parking lot and landscaping, with another group priming and painting the great room, hallway and porch of the S.N.A.P. shelter.

A total of 80 volunteers showed up Saturday to lend a hand. The first Day of Caring was such a success, Rouly said “It is an endeavor we will repeat again next year.”