Many Hands, Much Work

[Key Guy]

From the Times Argus, Barre, Vermont, USA

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090518/NEWS02/905180332/1003/NEWS02

Quote:

Elsie Reed doesn't have a little dog named Toto – just a 14-year-old cat named Tabby-Jo – but the 73-year-old Orange woman does have at least one thing in common with the lead character in "The Wizard of Oz." Just like Dorothy, Reed says, "There's no place like home."

Right now, Reed's without a home, but there's going to be a happy ending just like in the movie: Her tiny abode on Spencer Road is undergoing a central Vermont-style version of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," thanks to a team of volunteers.

Constructed on a poorly drained lot at the base of a steep hill, the home Reed's parents built back in 1946 had seen much, much better days when she finally abandoned it last week, placing both her keys and her trust in the hands of volunteers led by two men from the Berlin church she attends on a regular basis.

From crumbling floors and sill rot to mold and mildew caused by years of spring runoff pooling around the little house, the woman's dilemma caught the attention of members of the local Seventh-Day Adventist Church last year.

Initially, the plan was to obtain and renovate a trailer that could be placed on the lot after the house was demolished and the drainage problems solved.

However, the mobile home that was eventually donated needed more work than originally expected, and placing it on the property raised a separate set of challenges that prompted Ty Rolland and Nathan Knowles to take a second look at Reed's house.

"We decided to fix it," explained Rolland, who owns Blue Ridge Construction and, with Knowles, is serving as the point person for a project that began in earnest Tuesday.

Since then a crew of volunteers, including a handful of Rolland's employees and six students from the church-run Central Vermont Academy, have been hard at work. They have demolished two badly deteriorated additions, gutted the remaining 400-square-foot single-story home, and trucked off two 30-yard Dumpsters filled to the brim with debris.

They have poured footings for a new 200-square-foot addition, used an excavator to deal with the drainage issue and started interior renovations.

Heading into the weekend, the walls and the ceiling had been insulated and Sheetrocked, new electrical service had been roughed in, and plans to construct interior walls, expand the kitchen and upgrade the bathroom by installing the home's first-ever shower were firmly in place.

"We're hoping to be substantially complete by the end of this week," said Rolland, who said a number of area businesses have contributed to the project.

"People have really stepped up," he said, ticking down a list that ranges from Allen Lumber, Barre Electric and Casella Waste Management to Dimmick Waste Management and Lucky's Leasing and Storage.

(much more text and a photo online)