Americans Helping Americans® Provides New Tools for Home Repairs
On Wednesday, June 10, staff members from Americans Helping Americans® were in the tiny West Virginia community of Caretta to present a check for $2,500 for new tools to Dyanne Spriggs, executive director of our long-time partner there, Big Creek People in Action (BCPIA), and its volunteer coordinator, Scottie Perez, who oversees its home rehab program.
Also on hand were high school volunteers from the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, who had come to McDowell County to lend a helping hand to low-income and disabled homeowners in their distressed communities.
“Many people in our county live in substandard housing that can be hazardous to their health,” notes Dyanne.
“Big Creek People in Action appreciates the support we receive from Americans Helping Americans® to help us make a difference in these people’s lives.”
With grant funding made possible by the supporters of Americans Helping Americans®, the Sidwell Friends volunteers were able to use materials and tools provided to BCPIA’s home rehab program.
Volunteers Help Create More Space for a Family in Need
Among the projects the Sidwell Friends students worked on was for Tabitha Collins, who works at BCPIA as an AmeriCorps member, and whose husband was severely injured in an accident last year.
He has three siblings who were being raised by their grandmother, as both their parents had passed away.
Then, when the grandmother died a few months ago, Tabitha and her husband took on the responsibility of welcoming them into their home in the small community of Canebrake and raising them along with their own infant son.
He is planning to adopt them, but in order to do so, Dyanne explained that they each need a bedroom.
So, thanks to the Sidwell Friends volunteers, “Our group will build walls in the basement to make a bedroom and do drywall upstairs,” she told us.
On that day, the students took on the heavy task of also clearing brush and debris around the exterior of the house, while others, under the supervision of Scottie, were busy cutting lumber and nailing the wood in the basement.
Helping a Couple Complete Long-Overdue Home Repairs
Also, that week, Sidwell Friends volunteers were in the incorporated community of Newhall to put new siding on the exterior of Jerry Lockhart and his wife’s house.
Dyanne explained that a contractor hired by BCPIA to re-route his sewer line had noticed that someone had started the siding job but hadn’t completed the work.
Later, she learned that it was a family member who had started on the job but did all that he could, as they didn’t have ladders tall enough to complete the project.
It was also at that time that Dyanne said, “we heard the whole situation this family had been living with.”
She told us that they have had “very little electricity” in their house for the past three years.
“They had a few breakers that were very dangerous, and they plugged in different things at different times to have lights and some heat.
“But they didn’t have enough electricity to run their refrigerator, so they had been using coolers with ice to keep some food in for them to eat.”
Dyanne said they paid a certified electrician to come into the home to make temporary repairs so that they can safely use more electricity. However, it will take the power company coming in to move his line to enable the electrician to complete the work.
“So, we put him on our list to work on in March,” said Dyanne. “We hate that we did not know their living situation or we would have helped them before.”
Jerry told us how appreciative they are to have new siding installed after strong winds had blown a portion of it off, and how much they were looking forward to getting their steps repaired.
Students Carry on a Tradition of Service
Among the Sidwell Friends students volunteering that week was one young woman who told us, “I’m volunteering here because I really enjoy seeing the impact on people’s lives.”
She spoke of having the opportunity to meet Jerry and his wife, who came out to speak with her and the other volunteers, “showing us there’re real people here that we’re making an impact on.”
She noted that student volunteers from Sidwell Friends have been partnering with Big Creek People in Action for more than three decades.
“It’s kind of like a tradition, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
And while it was hard work, she added that she was glad to have had the opportunity to meet new people, “especially some of the little kids we met yesterday” (on a virtual plane flight to Hawaii with Sidwell Friends students serving as pilots and flight attendants), as well as the opportunity to form even stronger bonds with her fellow friends and classmates.
“I definitely want to come back.”
