Francesca Ferri truly believes God is watching out for her.

And not just because she and her husband, Mario, received an Apostolic Blessing from Pope Benedict XVI for their 50th wedding anniversary in August 2012.

On Saturday, an army of kindhearted volunteers descended on the couple’s Cedarwood St. home in Oxford Township to make life a little better and a little easier for them.

“I feel so blessed,” Francesca said. “They are really doing God’s work.”

The Ferri home was one of five selected by the Northeast Oakland Chapter of Christmas in Action (CIA) for extreme makeovers.

CIA provides free home repairs for low-income and/or disabled senior citizens to enable them to remain safe, warm and independent in their own homes. Skilled and unskilled volunteers do all the work, both inside and out.

Over the weekend, CIA volunteers fixed up two homes in Oxford, one in Addison, one in Orion and one in Auburn Hills.

It was the answer to Francesca’s prayers.

She’s been unable to keep up with her home’s needs because she’s been very busy caring for her husband 24-7. A stroke in 2010 followed by a second one three years later left Mario with some brain damage and confined to a wheelchair.

“He can’t do anything,” Francesca said. “He can’t walk around. He can’t even call 9-1-1.”

On top of that, Francesca is still recovering from a broken hip – the result of a fall – followed by surgery.

She couldn’t get over how much work the CIA volunteers did at her house. They installed new hardwood flooring in Mario’s bedroom and the hallway; removed the old bathtub and installed a new curbless, walk-in shower; cleaned up the house and yard; repaired the barn; put a new couch and love seat in the living room; and gave Mario a new lift chair.

“I’m shocked,” Francesca said. “It’s more than I expected, more than I thought they were going to do. I thought I was just going to get some help with a leaky faucet, a little something here and there. I didn’t realize what was coming. It looks wonderful. They worked so hard.”

Francesca isn’t used to all this help because she’s spent her life taking care of others.

“This is unusual, but it was so wonderful,” she said. “I’m so touched. I’m overwhelmed. I’m telling you these people are angels. How can I ever repay these people? I want to do something for them, but what can I do?”

She was happy to provide the volunteers with homemade cookies and fresh-baked lasagna.

“That’s all I can do,” Francesca said. “I wish I could do more. Everybody’s so sweet.”

“I want to thank everybody (who) was part of this,” she continued. “I hope they and their families have good health. Mario and I have a lot more people to pray for at night now. I hope they never need our help, but if there’s anything we could possibly do, I’d love to help them.”

The Ferris, who are parishioners at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lake Orion, have lived in Oxford for 36 years. They’re Italian immigrants who came separately to the United States in 1954 and later met at a picnic.

Seeing all the hard work the CIA volunteers put into her home instilled in Francesca a desire to pay it forward.

“Maybe when I’m better, I can help out somebody else,” she said. “I hope so.”

The other Oxford house fixed up by CIA volunteers belongs to Bonnie Davis, a 75-year-old village resident who lives in a quaint little 1937 ranch home on Division St.

Davis, a 1958 Oxford High School graduate, was extremely grateful for the assistance because she has no desire to ever leave the place she’s called home since 1963.

“I want to thank Christmas in Action (for) all the people that volunteered and all the donations that came in,” she said. “I’m proud of all of them. They’re easy to talk to.”

The volunteers repaired, painted and cleaned her house from top to bottom. They even installed a new heating system for her.

Thanks to federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds obtained through the township, she also got a new roof.

“I didn’t expect all this,” Davis said. “I just hope I live at least until I’m 80, so I can enjoy it.”