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What started as a simple home remodeling contest turned into a much needed gift for a well-deserving family in Greencastle, IN.

A tough economy can often cause strain on small town life. For the Rader family of Greencastle, that has unfortunately been the case. Because their family has found it difficult to find steady employment, home remodeling dropped to the bottom of their priority list. Though their 70 year old home had needs, home improvement projects were only a wish in the distance behind helping their family and friends through tough times.

Upon knowledge of winning the $10,000 Unique Home Solutions Labor Day giveaway, the first thing Daniel and Mary Rader wanted to do was give this prize to someone in more need than themselves. Their humble spirit is what made Unique’s experience with the Rader’s incomparable. As their windows were in grave need of replacing, their priority was still to help another in a worse position than themselves.

“Winning a prize like this is great, it is so exciting and gives you hope. I mean, if something like this could happen to me, it motivates me to give to someone else,” said Mary Rader.

Their compassion for others runs deeper than a simple prize. They gave the very home they owned for twenty years to their daughter and her six children upon hearing that she lost her job. On top of supporting themselves, the Rader’s try to help their other two children who are finding it difficult to find employment. The Rader’s are also highly involved in the local Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Eagle Watch, and are passionate about their involvement in the annual Granny Ride, a fundraiser for those suffering from cancer in Putnam County.

“Helping somebody else out, instead of sitting around worrying about what you do or don’t have, makes you feel better and it helps them too. Staying involved in these fundraisers, the Scouts, our grandchildren’s sports, it keeps up pretty busy—keeps us young too,” said Mary Rader.

According to their son, Daniel Rader, his parents were in great need of new windows and as much as they give to others, are well-deserving of this prize. “It’s just nice to see someone who really needs new windows win this contest,” said Daniel.

Unique spent six months collecting applicants for the annual Labor Day drawing. Daniel and Mary Rader were the lucky winners who received $10,000 in home remodeling projects. The Rader’s were completely unaware of the contest when they initially called Unique for an estimate, but were automatically entered into the drawing.

The Rader’s current home is about 70 years old and still had the original, single pane, wood windows, which they decided to replace with their winnings. To cut down on air leaks the Rader’s had their old windows covered in plastic all year round, and kept a space heater in the back of the house where the windows were the most inefficient.

“I love the Unique windows! When we first had them out for an estimate, we just couldn’t afford them at the time. My husband drives 30 miles one way to work and needed a new car.”

“When we selected the Rader’s as our winners, we had no idea how much they needed new windows. It was a nice surprise to be able to give this type of gift to such a wonderful, well-deserving family. It warmed all of our hearts,” said Lindsey Richardt, Director of Media Relations at Unique Home Solutions.

Upon hearing that they won, Mary Rader said it took a while before she believed it was true. “Well of course I didn’t believe the news at first; I was waiting for the shoe to drop. There are so many people out there ready to rip you off. We are kind of an older couple and it is well-known that older people seem to get hit badly with stuff like this. I was just trying to protect us.”

The new windows have been installed and Mary Rader said she intends to use this gift as a way to keep giving. “Now that the windows are installed our worries and our bills will be alleviated. Hopefully in some way we can then help out our children. They help us too, that’s just what you do when you’re a family.”