Dozens Of Newtown Volunteers Helping On The HomeFront

By John Voket

Despite threatening skies and a forecast of possible monsoon rains, dozens of skilled and unskilled volunteers from Newtown fanned out across three communities to help several neighbors receiving assistance on AmeriCares HomeFront Day last Saturday.

Teams from Newtown Congregational Church, St Rose of Lima Knights of Columbus Council 185, Newtown Lions Club, and the Newtown United Methodist Church hammered, sawed, and painted their way through the day leaving one local recipient in awe of their efforts.

That mother of two has been a Newtown resident for 20 years, and has volunteered for several local organizations herself. But, she said, the current economy combined with several potentially expensive home renovations all cropping up at once left her unable to keep up.

“It became a question of whether to try and pay for repairs, or possibly losing my home,” she said, asking not to be identified. “And with two children in the Newtown school system, it became a priority for us to remain in our home even though things were starting to go.”

Those things included areas of exterior wood paneling, two bay windows, and exterior doorways that were all rotting, and a half-bath with extensive floor rot and failing fixtures rendering it unusable. But except for a full exterior paint job that is scheduled for another date, everything else was repaired or completely replaced by the time the crew of about ten primarily skilled volunteer contractors wrapped up late in the afternoon.

According to the homeowner, a team from AmeriCares, a nonprofit humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization, came to the location recently and went through the entire property identifying priority areas. The next thing she knew, she was being told that volunteers fully equipped and carting new doors, windows, and toilet fixtures would be arriving early in the morning of May 7.

The sight, she said, was not unlike one of the popular home makeover shows popularized on reality TV.

“It was so heartwarming to see the number of people who came out,” she said. “They all were so willing, so joyful to complete this unselfish act. They could have all been out making money for their own family or working on their own homes.”

The Newtown recipient said the entire experience makes her want to get right back out volunteering. She previously assisted one local service group with its Labor Day parade float, and also provided craft activities at local schools and for the Newtown Parks and Recreation Department.

“It really makes you want to give back,” she said. “It’s people helping people and that is what this world is supposed to be all about. I was unaware of this program until I read about it in The Bee. And thanks to these volunteers, I can stop worrying so much about the house and move forward with my life.”

 AmeriCares spokesperson Ashley Cross said that Newtown’s volunteers formed part of a network of 105 faith-based, civic, and corporate groups that, in total, performed work in 43 communities in Fairfield, Hartford, New Haven, and Litchfield Counties, as well as New York’s Westchester County. While the bulk of HomeFront Day’s activities are geared to low-income homeowners including senior citizens and single-parent families, several teams will work to repair deserving community centers.

“At the conclusion of HomeFront Day 2005, volunteers will have revitalized more than 2,150 properties since [the program started in] 1988,” she said.

Denny McLaughlin, who along with Tony Ratzing supervised the Newtown project, estimated that with materials and labor factored in, volunteers will have provided in excess of $20,000 worth of work on the local home.

“Most of these guys are way more skilled that I am,” Mr McLaughlin said as he dragged pieces of carpeting from the residence. “I’m just a gofer today. We’ve got about a half dozen professional contractors here and the rest of the crew does this kind of work all the time on their own homes.”

Mark Dennen, who was assigned to a Danbury project along with others from St Rose and the local Knights of Columbus, said he and more than 50 volunteers converged on an old three-story home.

“It was a huge job, but in less than 12 hours we were all done,” he said in an email correspondence Tuesday.

The many Danbury volunteers collaborated on duties including removing materials from the basement to a dumpster, insulating a basement ceiling, wrapping all heating pipes with insulation, stripping all exterior cedar shingles from the south side of the home and reshingling, installing one new replacement window, reshingling a heavily pitched section of the roof, scraping and painting all exterior trim and the entire body of the house, plus all interior rooms including ceilings and trim.

In addition, Mr Dennen’s group also scraped and painted the home’s front porch ceiling and railings, repaired a bathroom ceiling with sheetrock and then taped and sanded, primed and painted.

“They also laid new carpet in the living room and did some hedge and tree trimming on the property,” he concluded.

Ms Cross said that from the standpoint of participating volunteers, the equivalent of ten weeks of labor are concentrated into one day of caring during HomeFront Day. Across the country, HomeFront volunteers contribute 3,360 hours to pack, load, and haul materials to project sites; apply 5,252 gallons of paint, or the equivalent of 45 football fields; haul away 16 trailer loads of debris; and make use of nearly 90,000 donated and purchased building supply items and materials.

Each team’s house captain manages between 20 and 150 volunteers, making key repairs and bringing their “labor of love” to raise the spirits of these families. By 6 pm, volunteers know the reward that comes with the gift of giving, and the assurance that the fruits of their volunteering far outlast the one-day event.

“The collective support for HomeFront Day 2005 pushes the value of goods and services donated directly to homeowners beyond $30 million in the program’s history,” she said.