Scott Harvey has always cherished a deep-seated ambition to become an architect.

Almost from the womb.

“I was born with it,” the 52-year-old project manager for an engineering firm in Austin said of the love. “I drew house plans when I was 6 years old”

He was always drawn to the home magazines that his parents littered their house in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago. He carefully studied them and began to draw floor plans and drawings.

He never became that architect. At least for now. He did team up with Charles Umlauf’s family to start a successful outdoor architecture lecture series held in the sumptuous gardens of the Zilker sculptors that started with 25 people and eventually attracted an audience of 250 people over a five-year period.

He also worked part-time as a real estate agent, but lost all of his income from it in two years during the pandemic.

Lately, however, Harvey has devoted much of his life to being the sole caretaker of his 79-year-old mother Sheri.

The Harvey family is one of a dozen families featured in this year’s Season of Caring. They were nominated by Age of Central Texas, an organization that helps older people and their caregivers.

Seasonal donations for care continue to be accepted until January 31st for current agencies and families.

Read more:Sheri Harvey: Chronic pain, diabetes, debt made old age harder

Sheri Harvey is elated despite having suffered from severe back pain and spinal arthritis for decades, as well as undergoing shoulder and ankle surgeries. She needs morphine for whatever relief she can find.

As she and her son struggled to pay their bills and were on the verge of financial ruin, she moved to four different nursing homes in the Austin area after she lost her husband, father Scott, to colon cancer in 2016 and liver.

Scott Harvey has run out of finances and still has to deal with a huge financial debt that has reached over $20,000 in overdue rent and medical bills. He was recently evicted from his home due to late rent and now lives at Airbnb.

“Scott couldn’t have been a more perfect kid,” Sheri Harvey said. “There were times when I could wring his neck, but he was a very easy child to raise. Even in high school, he was everyone’s best friend.”

These two have been close forever, but they love to tease each other.

“She’s sassy and very special,” Scott Harvey said fondly. “She drove my dad crazy. She must tell you everything. If you dust off the shelves, you will receive step-by-step instructions. She is bossy, but she will deny it.”

Learn more:How to Help Families Through the Statesman Season for Caring Program

The two have been a good team, overcoming all odds, and he yearns to find a better home for her with the dignity of a private room.

“It was hard, but I was always honest with her,” Scott said. “I was without income for almost two years. She doesn’t complain.”

The family needs a safer living situation and help with paying bills, as well as help with incontinence products for Sheri, new clothes, Uber and Lyft cards, and a financial advisor.

To learn more about the Harvey family or to donate to their wish list, contact AGE of Central Texas, 512-649-2211, ageofcentraltx.org.

Donate:Use the form below or click here: https://statesmansfc.kimbia.com/statesmanseasonforcaring.