Thursday, May 1, 2008

Lending a hand — and a paintbrush

North Brentwood home gets repairs through Christmas in April

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Brenda Ahearn⁄The Gazette
Greg Hall of Chapel Oaks gives a fresh coat of paint to the door frame of a North Brentwood home being fixed up as part of Christmas in April on Saturday.
When Michael Williams learned about the Christmas in April program, he knew he wanted to apply so his father’s North Brentwood home could get much-needed repairs.

‘‘He really needed a new bathroom,” he said. ‘‘The toilet was rocking, the shower was coming down and the floor needed to be retiled.”

Williams said if he hired someone to fix the bathroom, it would have cost up to $2,500 that neither he nor his father, Virgin Williams, 79, could spare. But through Christmas in April, the home got those repairs and more.

‘‘They also did part of the kitchen and cleaned and painted the living room,” he said. ‘‘They did a remarkable job for the time they had to do it in, especially considering that they were all volunteers and not professionals.”

About 25 people volunteered throughout the day, which began at 7 a.m. and lasted until about 5 p.m. Saturday, sanding and painting, installing bathroom fixtures and cleaning up the house.

‘‘We’re spending the day getting as much done as we can by the end of the day,” said Brad Frome of Hyattsville, house captain.

This is Frome’s second year working with Christmas in April. ‘‘We’re just folks using elbow grease.”

Over the past 20 years, volunteers have rebuilt nearly 1,000 homes in Prince George’s County through Christmas in April, a non-denominational volunteer organization that repairs the homes of senior citizens who are either low-income or physically challenged.

Once a homeowner has submitted his or her application by the yearly Nov. 1 deadline, a volunteer inspects the home and meets with the owner.

‘‘The repairs are done based on what’s needed. Safety issues are our first concern,” said Mary Kucharski, executive director of Christmas in April in Prince George’s County.

Volunteers worked on the living room, dining room and kitchen in addition to the bathroom.

‘‘They’re getting a brand new bathroom and the rest of the house will just look a lot better,” he said.

Ryan Duffy of College Park said he heard of the Christmas in April program before, but this was the first year he was able to participate.

‘‘I saw pictures from last year and I saw how successful it was. It’s only one day out of my life so it’s a small price to pay to change how these people live for the rest of their lives,” he said. ‘‘And you see the results right away. That’s what’s really satisfying about this.”

George Young of Greenbelt said he found out about the program through his flag football team at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he’s a senior.

‘‘It’s a good cause,” he said as painted the walls in Virgin Williams’ dining room. ‘‘No one else is going to do it. If we don’t [volunteer], no one else is going to help out.”

Kucharski said it was too early to estimate what the repairs done by about 3,500 volunteers at 92 houses countywide would have cost if done professionally.

‘‘Last year there was $950,000 worth of overall work done to 85 homes,” she said.

E-mail Maya T. Prabhu at mprabhu@gazette.net.

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