Volunteer Spotlight: Wednesday Crew

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by Danny Mendl

Meet the Wednesday Home Repair Crew

Joe Linville, Dave DeCarme, and Garland Walker. Visit an Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity Home Repair job site on any given Wednesday and you’re likely to find one —or all— of these men working. We tagged along for a Disaster Home Repair job to learn how they got started volunteering with Asheville Habitat and what keeps them coming back each week.

 

Joe Linville

Joe looks at the camera as he nails a strip of baseboard to the wall.

Joe replacing baseboard in a Hurricane Helene damaged home.

Joe Linville has volunteered with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity’s Home Repair team for six years — and for many of those years, alongside Dave DeCarme and Garland Walker. A now-retired firefighter of 30 years, Joe gained carpentry experience as a part-time handyman to supplement his income while working as a firefighter in Florida. Following his move to Western North Carolina in his retirement, Joe, having personally built two homes and renovated two more, sought out Habitat, where he thought his skills would be of good use.

 

Joe’s volunteer service began with a few days on a New Home Construction build, but after accepting an opportunity to work with Home Repair, he quickly realized that the dynamic, problem-solving nature of the repair work appealed to him more. “You have to improvise a lot on older homes because nothing is plumb, level, or square. You get into a job and maybe you have to tear out some drywall, and you get in there and find some of the studs are rotted. So now you have another issue you have to fix before you can do the job you started on,” he shares.

Beyond just the puzzles contained in the walls of old homes, Joe credits his enjoyment of his volunteer service to the camaraderie with his fellow Wednesday Core group and the impact of the work itself, saying, “The rewarding part of this is being able to see that some of these elderly people get to stay in their home. Whether six months or two years or ten years after that, at least they have a safe place to live, right? That’s what a lot of this is about.”

As far as Joe is concerned, the social and societal benefits will keep him showing up to Home Repair jobs for as long as he’s able to. An avid traveler who aims to take two or three big trips a year, most recently to Scotland and Utah, he says, “My mantra is sort of, ‘I want to do as much as I can for as long as I can,’ and if you stay active, it gives you a better chance of being able to do things for longer.”

Joe also knows that there will be no shortage of opportunities to stay active through volunteer service in the wake of Hurricane Helene, offering a parting message to potential volunteers:

“I’d like to say, as far as anybody reading this, if they have any interest and would like to volunteer, we’d appreciate all the people we can get going — especially with home repair now that we’re really doing home recovery more than home repair. The scope is really picking up.”

Dave DeCarme

Dave DeCarme was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but spent his professional career in Washington DC, serving as Director of the Office of International Transportation and Trade, and moved to Asheville in his retirement. With no prior experience with Habitat for Humanity as an organization, Dave first began volunteering with Asheville Habitat around nine years ago when a neighbor invited him to tag along. “Other than seeing Jimmy Carter on the TV once in a while, I knew nothing about Habitat,” Dave says. His neighbor has since moved out of the area, but for Dave, the volunteer service stuck around.

Dave stands in front of a saw, holding a piece of freshly cut baseboard and looking up in thought.

Dave cutting baseboard for installation in a Hurricane Helene damaged home.

Today, he volunteers with Asheville Habitat two days a week, spending Wednesdays working alongside Joe and Garland on Home Repair jobs and Fridays at our New Home Construction sites. Like Joe, Dave finds the ever-changing nature and improvisational problem-solving of Home Repair’s work appealing. He credits some of his carpentry skills to his father, a man with a strong “Do-It-Yourself” attitude, but the rest to his years on the jobsite. Of his time with Habitat, Dave says, “You feel you’re contributing something. But there’s also never a day that I work here that I don’t learn something, so I get something out of it as well as giving something. It works out well for me.”

When asked why someone might consider volunteering with Habitat, Dave keeps it simple:

“You’re helping yourself by helping others.”

Garland Walker

Garland Walker has been volunteering with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity for over ten years. Once an attorney in fishery management in Alaska,

Garland, kneeling, applies caulk to the gap between a newly installed baseboard and the wall.

Garland applies caulk to recently installed baseboards in a Hurricane Helene damaged home.

Garland moved back to his home state of North Carolina in retirement. Growing up in Winston-Salem, he was fond of Western North Carolina and its mountains for recreation and always imagined he might end up in Asheville eventually.

 

When asked what brought him to Habitat, Garland says, “Like most everybody else, I was looking for something to kind of give back and do something once I retired.” With no prior experience in carpentry or construction aside from small fixes in his own home, he signed up for a volunteer shift with Habitat’s New Home Construction program. On his second day of volunteering, he was offered a chance to go out with the growing Home Repair team and never looked back.

“Because I had no formal training, it taught me things that I could still use around the house. I’m not going to have to build a house, but I might have to repair a deck or a wall. It’s these little things that will be, or have been, useful at home,” he shares.

Having watched Asheville Habitat’s Home Repair program grow from a one- or two-person team into what it is today — a “top-notch program with three leaders that take people out to do work every day,” as he puts it — Garland credits the success of the program to its director, Joel Johnson, saying, “It’s Joel and his leadership that was able to do that. I don’t think everyone could have done that, and it was quite something to watch and appreciate.”

To his enjoyment of the work and his time on the jobsite, Garland credits his fellow volunteers, the camaraderie built by working together each week, and the reward of the work itself:

“It’s a great thing because you’re doing good work for people that need the good work, and you’re working with good people. It’s that trifecta. I think it’s hard to beat that combination.”

 

Interested in volunteering with Asheville Habitat’s Disaster Home Repair program? Learn more about available opportunities.

Spotlight: Home Repair Volunteer Jan

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Jan has been a Core volunteer with Habitat’s Home Repair team for 5 years, and she’s proud to be the only female core volunteer. Learn more about Jan, the kind of work she does, and what it means to her.

Habitat’s Home Repair Program Expands to Madison County

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Habitat’s Home Repair team tackled their first ever project in Madison County for Thomas, client in need of a stable, safe porch. The home was built in 1856 and added onto in the early 1900s- perhaps the oldest home we’ve ever worked on!

“Never in my wildest dreams”

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Alexander homeowner of 44 years now can live safely navigate her property, thanks to Habitat’s Home Repair program.

Home Repair through the eyes of volunteer Austin Brown

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If you ask Austin Brown about his favorite moment as a volunteer with Asheville Habitat, his answer might sound like a platitude: “they all are.” But that is not a brush-off.

Home Repair Makes Big Impacts

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Home Repair For Enews Aug2017

The Asheville Habitat Home Repair Program is an affordable housing superstar that tends to stay out of the spotlight while having a huge impact on our communities. It is integral in improving affordable housing in our area as it helps low income and older adult residents live better in their homes, for longer. Whether fixing a leaky roof, installing a ramp, or replacing heating systems, Asheville Habitat’s affordable home repairs enable homeowners to live safely, and with dignity, where it may otherwise have been financially out of reach. Home repair preserves the character, affordability, and diversity in our local neighborhoods and allows long-time residents to stay in their most affordable option- the home they already own, and avoid being priced out of their community. It is clear why this type of affordable housing program is vital to our community and why 75% of the families served through Asheville Habitat are home repair clients.

In an effort to learn more about the impact of home repair on the lives of our clients, as well as learn how the program can improve, Asheville Habitat AmeriCorps member Jessica Gustines, recently conducted a survey of 103 households who were served through the Home Repair program between 2018 and 2021. Between March, 2018 and July, 2021, the Asheville Habitat Home Repair program completed 135 repair jobs through a broad range of services, including accessibility modifications, heating/cooling systems repair, roof repair, floor repair, interior and exterior repairs, and exterior painting/staining. Jessica personally chatted with over 100 families, verbally collecting feedback on various parts of the Home Repair program process. Families were asked to rank on a scale of 1-5, how the repair job impacted various aspects of their life in their home. The biggest impacts were in the safety and longevity of clients homes with the enjoyment of their homes close behind.  However, every category scored above a 4.5 (out of 5), a very telling outcome!

Survey Results Infographic

Survey Results

Jessica recalls that outside of the high rankings in all the categories, many clients were effusive in their praises of the program. She heard many times how kind, courteous, and diligent the team was and how happy the clients were to have the team working in their homes. She also heard many times that the families would not have been able to get the repairs done without Habitat’s affordable program, and families expressed much gratitude for making repairs possible for them.

The survey revealed overwhelmingly positive results- confirming both the great need for affordable home repair and the quality of the work done by Asheville Habitat’s program. Home repairs done through the AAHH program are not free, but because of generous donors, sponsors and grants, the cost is significantly lower, and families are set up with a short-term payment plan they can afford. In fact, the data collected by this survey has been used to secure future funding to continue to grow this much needed service in our community.

After completing the survey process, Jessica commented, “It’s obvious the need is great and our program is successfully addressing that need. But I know that despite our best efforts there are many people and repairs we cannot serve or address. I think the repair program is really important for maintaining affordability though preserving the existing stock of affordable homes in the area. It is essential work to take care of the people that have been living here their whole lives. While there are a few other affordable repair programs in the area, it’s definitely an issue that could use more attention, manpower, and resources.”

If you would like to sponsor a home repair through Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, contact Beth Russo at 828-407-4487 or email brusso@ashevillehabitat.org.

Before and After: Home Repair for a former ReStore Volunteer

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Carolyn knew it was time to do something about her floor when she had to move heavy furniture off of it and avoid walking on it altogether. Fearful she would fall through and injure herself, she turned to Asheville Habitat’s Home Repair program. She was no stranger to Habitat because Carolyn served as a ReStore volunteer for four years.

A most gratifying project

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A reflection by Jennie Goldenberg, an AmeriCorps member who works on the Home Repair team. 

“Recently we had a huge home repair project that involved fixing about 60% of our client’s home. He has cerebral palsy and had been living independently for about ten years. He unfortunately was not able to keep up with the house and in turn the framing had sunk in and it was not healthy for him to live there anymore. By working on the 60% of his house, we were able to get him a workable area that he could live in again. It was one of the toughest projects to date, but it was also the most gratifying.

His kitchen before the remodel was in disarray, and nothing was able to be used to making a nutritious meal. We were able to install new cabinets, lighting, and a stove, with a safe and level floor. He had been sleeping in a chair in his living room, not utilizing either one of the two bedrooms that were in the house. We were able to take the back bedroom and stabilize the flooring so that it would no longer be falling; we made it completely level so that it was safe for him to walk. We completely remodeled his bathroom, with a new washer, dryer, shower and vanity. The washer and dryer were set up correctly, therefore not as much of a fire risk as the ones before. The shower was converted into a walk-in shower with handrails, so that he has less probability of falling when getting in. By getting all of these individual parts of his house fixed, we have given him the ability to continue to live his life in the home that has been passed down through his family.

Upon completion, he and his mother came to see what the finished product looked like. Co-workers Chris and Pete and I took the tour with them, and we were able to see their reaction to a completely different looking house. They had so much gratitude for us and were amazed at how much we were able to get done in a month. At the end of the tour we all held hands and had a moment of peace and togetherness. I could tell that he and his mother were so grateful that he was going to be able to continue to live in the home that he spent most of his adult life. This is a project that I really felt like we were going to have a lasting impact on their family, and ultimately create a better life for him.”

To learn more about the client (Victor) and see photos of his renovated home, click here.

Interested in serving as an AmeriCorps member with us starting in August 2020? Click here to see the open positions with Asheville Habitat and apply.

A Safe and Dignified Living Space

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By Maddy Alewine, Communications Specialist

A home is more than a roof and four walls. Homeownership is the primary way Americans accumulate wealth. This is true for Victor, a retired forklift driver and Asheville High graduate, who inherited the Oakley home from his great aunt in 2018. Victor’s grandfather built this home with his own two hands in 1944.

AmeriCorps member Lucas works on the trim in the back bedroom.

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AmeriCorps member Cecily and Home Repair Supervisor Pete install new kitchen cabinets.

Home can be a safe and healthy haven, but for Victor, he found himself living in an old home with a growing laundry list of repairs including heavily deteriorating floors and walls with moisture-ridden wood, and faulty plumbing. Victor’s cerebral palsy means he is unable to repair and upkeep with the growing number of problems in his home, even with family regularly checking in and assisting him.

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AmeriCorps Jennie installs vinyl flooring in the kitchen.

Asheville Habitat’s Home Repair team demolished the kitchen, back bedroom, and bathroom to repair the floor framing and install vapor barriers and insulation. New subflooring and vinyl flooring were installed and plumbing was fixed in the bathroom and kitchen. While new and sturdy floors gave the three rooms a whole new feel, new kitchen appliances and fresh paint and trim really made the place shine. Victor and his family expressed how much they love the work that was done. Victor can now live safer and with dignity in his family’s home.

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The finished kitchen

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New kitchen appliances

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completed bathroom

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Completed back bedroom

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New walk-in shower

Virtual Connections

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The routine of showing up to swing a hammer or lay flooring alongside a community of volunteers, staff, and future homeowners is for many Habitat volunteers as ingrained in their daily life as their weekly trip to the grocery.  As if the cancellation of all volunteer participation on jobsites wasn’t interruption enough for our volunteers, there was another meaningful tradition within this weekly routine that was interrupted as well.