For the first time in a long time, excitement and happiness filled the Nuri home.
Stoorai and her daughter Hannah moved into this home last June, just two months after Stoorai's husband Solaiman and her younger daughter Haddessa died.
Solaiman, Haddessa, and Hannah were out for a bike ride on Treat Boulevard on April 7, 2012 when they were run over by a 17-year-old driver. Hannah survived the crash.
"They're gone in a second," Stoorai said. "They were fine, they were healthy. You're basically dead inside. But you live for your other child."
And that's where Healing Spaces comes in.
"It was certainly tragic, just thinking of an accident of that proportion," Healing Spaces President Gregory Schmidt said. "It's just heartwrenching."
Each year the high school club chooses one person to do an 'extreme home makeover' for. Students from Carondolet and De La Salle raised nearly $10,000, and went to work on the Nuri's new place.
"Next month is the anniversary," said De La Salle teacher Steve Oelschlager. "So what we hope to do is just take some of the salt out of the wound that they have experienced. And that's its own reward."
The focus of this makeover was really on Hannah, and giving her a new bedroom and study area. But because the club raised so much money, the volunteers were able to do a lot more. They redid the living room, dining room, and bathrooms.
"It's awesome," Hannah said. "It's perfect."
With one space healed, the focus can now shift elsewhere.
Since the crash happened, all the damage has been repaired on Treat Boulevard. The city even put in a new fire hydrant. But the family hasn't forgotten. That's why there will be a vigil there this coming April 7.
