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Written by Brenda Kissam
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Community Roof RaisingI volunteer with a number of organizations in Burlington but one of my most satisfying experiences as a volunteer has been on Project Days with Rebuilding Together*Greater Burlington (RT*GB). RT*GB is the local affiliate of the national organization, Rebuilding Together, which helps low-income homeowners - particularly those who are elderly, disabled, or part of a family with children – repair and renovate their homes so that they may live independently in safety and warmth.
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On a recent RT*GB Project Day, a hardy group of us found our way to the rural home of Moe and Lorraine Quinton in Huntington. Actually, the Quintins live in “Hanksville”, named after the owner of the store that once occupied the building that the Quintins now call home. The Quintins have been living with a leaky roof and failing plumbing. Despite health problems, Moe, who is nearing 80, had been hauling water from the basement for basic plumbing needs; he had also been climbing up on the roof to slap roofing compound on leaky spots. Champlain Valley Agency on Aging alerted RT*GB to the Quintin’s situation. Through the heroic efforts of many, not least being Dixie O’Connor, the President of RT*GB who arranges all the complicated logistics of Project Days, the Quintins are living today in a safer, warmer home with plenty of running water.
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Site captain, Bob Schwartz of Great Northern Construction, worked with town administrator Ed Wildman to prepare the job site prior to project day. Thanks to Ed and the town road crew for snow plowing the Quntin’s yard so that the crews could park their vehicles and tools close to the site, making a safer and more efficient work site.
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A lively, hardworking crew of volunteers from Otter Creek Awning arrived early on a Thursday morning – one of the coldest this winter – and set about shoveling snow and ice off the roof and then scraping off the shingles and, in spots, tearing out pieces of decaying plywood boards below. They were joined by a crew from Great Northern Construction as well as other builders from the area, including a newcomer to the Home Builders and Remodelers Association, Jim Gilmartin of Underhill. Stalwart new RT*GB board member Dan Huskes was up on the roof scraping shingles too. Once the old shingles were off, extensive repairs were made to sheath the roof and install new fascia boards.
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Beaudry’s Store in Huntington donated coffee, donuts and cold beverages to sustain workers early on and Joe Meccia, a RT*GB Project Day regular, worked outside and inside where he served some fantastic pasta and meatballs that he and his wife, Felicia Foster, had prepared the day before. Benoure Plumbing came to fix the failing water pump, restoring running water to the house, and Blue Sky Roofing arrived later in the day to put on a new roof.
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I mention all these people not because they volunteered expecting recognition; that was definitely not the reason they drove out to “Hanksville” to get up on a slippery roof to work on one of the coldest mornings of the winter. Rather I mention them because I am proud to live in a community that has so many good folks ready to pitch in when others need help. They were all part of what was a remarkable individual and community effort - kind of what I imagine old barn raisings to have been like. Except I imagine those as having been done on sunny, spring or summer days – not short dark days in the dead of winter with snow threatening over the mountains. But neither cold nor grey nor snow dampened our spirits as we felt the satisfaction of helping others and of working together as a community to do it.
Brenda Kissam
Burlington
December 14, 2007
(photos © 2007 keyworthgraphics.com )
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