Unlike our first attempt to paint Barbara’s home, this was the perfect day to paint. The winds were calm and the temperature was just right, a lovely spring day. Barbara is a senior receiving social security and lives with her grandson, Victor. Heartbreakingly, both her husband and daughter (Victor’s mom) recently passed away. 

The park requested that Barbara have her house painted because it was not painted in the park approved colors. She had begun to repair the side and the back of her home but ran out of funds to finish. From the street, Barbara’s home looked fine but the rear side of the home had holes in the skirting and critters were getting under the home. In addition, the trim and lattice at the back needed to be repaired; the carpet and safety trim on both sets of steps needed to be replaced.

Originally, Barbara’s home was scheduled for volunteer work at the end of April but it was too windy to paint and most of the volunteers were sent home for safety reasons. A couple volunteers stayed to repair the steps and rear of the home. A new group of volunteers came out on Friday, May 9th to finish the job. We began the day with a morning prayer and a few jokes told by Dave, A Brush with Kindness Project Coordinator. After a safety orientation was conducted and paint areas were designated, everyone got to work right away. Although it was a small group of 8, the volunteers worked as if there were 20 people on site and finished painting the home fairly quickly. This was the first volunteering experience for most of our volunteers; however we did have a couple of seasoned painters. We were joined by seasoned painters Racci, one of our future Habitat homeowners and Kathleen, a UCR student who has kind-heartedly volunteered her time to paint with Habitat multiple times in the last month.

First-time volunteers Jessica and Mark said “This was one of the most rewarding days we have had in a long time”. Both are busy, working students who wished they had more time to volunteer so they generously opted to paint Barbara’s home rather than sleep in on a Friday morning. Carin, a graduate student and also a first-time painter with Habitat, was volunteering for research, as it was required for one of her classes. Whatever the reasons may be, thank you volunteers for coming out and helping Barbara with her home.