The Emerging Leaders Group (ELG) and the Emerging Green Builders (EGB) teamed up to sponsor a house on National Rebuilding Day Saturday April 30th. Through two fundraising events in February and some generous donations, the ELG was able to raise the money necessary to sponsor a house. We were grateful that Jim Newman from Rushforth Construction was kind enough to once again be our house captain.
Our homeowner this year was LaVerna, a 69-year-old widow who has lived in the house for more than 30 years. She grew up in the neighborhood only a few houses away. Currently, LaVerna has mobility issues due to a number of knee surgeries and takes care of her adult granddaughter who also lives in the house. Her granddaughter is in a wheelchair while going through chemotherapy.
The scope of the project was to remove an existing, deteriorating ramp and to build a new one in it’s place, replace some rotting decking on her adjacent patio, stabilize the handrail at the front porch and possibly assist with some yard work. As we were demolishing the ramp and removing the rotting wood, it became apparent that there was more work required than anticipated. As the ramp was being taken apart, the adjacent structure covering part of her patio began to collapse. We quickly installed temporary supports to stabilize the structure. Once a few of the decking members were removed it revealed that the supports below were extremely rotted making the decking unsafe and therefore required replacement .
The dedicated team of volunteers stepped up and did what was necessary to complete the project. We were at the home Saturday until 7pm then a small team went back Sunday for a few hours to finish the job. At the end of the weekend, LaVerna had a new safe ramp, half the patio was rebuilt, the handrails at the front porch were secured and her flowerbeds were weeded.
LaVerna was overjoyed and extremely thankful for the new ramp. Now she does not have to worry about the decking giving way as she pushes her granddaughter’s wheelchair up the ramp and that the handrails at the front porch will support her when she needs them.
Rebuilding Together is a volunteer, charitable group who repairs/rebuilds homes at no cost to low-income homeowners, particularly those who are elderly, disabled or families with children. http://www.rebuildingtogetherss.org/
Thanks to everyone that supported our effort!!
Financial support to sponsor the project provided by:
BCE Engineers
Rushforth Construction
Amy Dedominicis - Tacoma Design Collaborative
Enginuity Systems
Coffee provided by Amocat Café - 625 St. Helens Ave, Tacoma http://amocatcafe.com/
Rebuilding Day Volunteers:
Kina Barker, Kelly Braun (Volunteer Coordinator), Joel Braun, Kate Burnham, Brian Corcoran, Amy Dedominicis, Ben Ferguson, LeEllen Ferguson, Les Gerstmann, Brett Maddox, Mark Nelson, Jim Newman (House Captain), Steffany Tilton, Sunni Wissmer and Ryan Wolfe
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