Craig Daily Press

Photo by Jerry Raehal

After four hours of work Saturday by Sean Smith, David Hickson, Tyler Roach and Jade Jackson, Larry and Nora Jones’ garage went from a pile of boxes sprawling from one corner to an organized work area.

Photo by Jerry Raehal

After four hours of work Saturday by Sean Smith, David Hickson, Tyler Roach and Jade Jackson, Larry and Nora Jones’ garage went from a pile of boxes sprawling from one corner to an organized work area.

Craig — About a year ago, Larry Jones drove his John Deere riding lawn mower into his garage.

It has sat there ever since.

A flat tire and a dead battery kept Jones from getting the mower back in action.

Jones’ problem? The tools he needed to repair the mower — an air compressor and battery charger — were buried under boxes and boxes of stuff in the garage.

“I have no idea where it is,” he said early Saturday morning, while scanning his garage.

Thirty-two years worth of life has accumulated in the boxes, said Larry’s wife, Nora.

Stuff that had once been in the garage at their old house. Stuff that was shoved into a storage unit two years ago, when they moved to their new home at 360 Woodbury Drive, because it didn’t have a garage. Stuff that was moved from storage and into their new garage, after it was built a year ago.

In addition to their stuff is 75 years worth of stuff from Larry’s parents, who recently were put into a rest home.

And all that stuff made the garage feel, well, stuffy.

So, when Nora saw the Garage Make Over Contest, sponsored by Samuleson True Value, Flint Personnel, and the Craig Daily Press, she entered their garage as a Father’s Day gift for Larry.

They won.

On Saturday, Sean Smith, David Hickson, Tyler Roach and Jade Jackson — workers courtesy of Flint Personnel — spent four hours moving boxes and putting together shelves and rack hooks, courtesy of Samuelson, all in an attempt to get the garage organized.

Larry “has had trouble breathing, and he couldn’t get out here to build the shelves,” Nora said, watching the four youths at work.

Although Nora submitted their garage for a makeover as a Father’s Day present, it was a gift for both of them, Larry said.

“This needed to be done,” he said.

By early afternoon Saturday, the four youngsters had made their way through boxes, set up the shelves, as well as put up two sets of shelves that the Jones owned but had yet erected.

Instead of a boxes sprawled from the corner to the center of the garage, there was organization. And what was left found its way to a dumpster, donated by Old West Sanitation.

“They did excellent,” Larry said. “I love it. They helped us out tremendously. There’s a big difference from when you first saw it.”

Now that their stuff is organized and they realize all of the stuff that they have, there is one more thing to do.

Get rid of the unwanted or needed stuff.

“I’m going to have a big yard sale,” Nora said.