New Habitat program to help improve home appearances

Volunteers are accustomed to building homes from the ground up at the Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity, but a new program will give them a chance to help homeowners in need with nothing but a paintbrush and perhaps a rake.

The local chapter of Habitat is accepting applications and volunteers for its new program, A Brush with Kindness, which will focus on exterior home improvements like painting and landscaping.

Jody Loin, who has been a board member for eight years, learned of the program two years ago when she attended a national Habitat conference in Atlanta. The program was part of Habitat?s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative to help preserve the value of homes in a community.

?I thought it would be good for the Fairfield community,? she said.

Loin has taken on a number of yearlong projects helping families build their first homes, and saw the advantage of adding short-term projects to the Fairfield chapter?s repertoire.

?It takes a year to build a house,? said Loin, ?so a project you can do in one weekend is very appealing.?

Loin and fellow board member, Christie Kessel, drove through town together to assess Fairfield?s housing stock.

?It?s exciting to be able to offer another option to beautify the city,? said Kessel. ?Driving around town, it seems like there are houses that could use landscaping help and painting.?

They will offer to repaint homes, and to help with basic landscaping such as raking, removing tree limbs and gaining control of overrun gardens.

?The impact will be for the community as well as the individual,? said loin.

Kessel and Loin said they should be able to complete their first home in one weekend with a crew of five to 10 volunteers, and are aiming to complete one by mid-October. Kessel said those interested in applying or volunteering should call her at 233-7600 or call Habitat?s PreRestore at 209-9450 for more information.

?We will help people who are unable to maintain their property and don?t know how to ask for help,? said Kessel.

She said candidates are often elderly, or working families who don?t have the income to qualify for a bank loan.

They will only be accepting one-story homes. Eligible residents must have the need, the ability to pay back a no-interest loan and a willingness to partner with volunteers, said Loin.

The no-interest loan can be paid back in three to five year. The maximum budget for projects will be $3,000, but Loin said they will likely spend in the hundreds to begin with.

Loin and Kessel said it?s important for applicants to understand they are expected to help complete the project. For those unable to do manual work, they said there are many other ways to help. They offered ideas such as recruiting family members or friends to help, providing lunch for volunteers, writing thank you notes, or manning the cash register at the PreRestore as a way to contribute.

?We like them to be involved in some way,? said Loin. ?It?s a good concept because they?re more tied into the project if they helped with it,? said Loin.

Loin and Kessel hope introducing a Brush with Kindness to Fairfield will help bring in new volunteers.

?This could attract people who only want to work a little bit,? said Kessel. ?The tasks are simple and straightforward.?

She said they have a core group at Habitat who are ?always willing to help,? but said they?ll need more to be successful.

?We will have a bunch of people work on Saturday and Sunday and then be done,? said Loin.

Once they?ve selected a home, Kessel said realtors from Fairfield Multiple Listing Service have agreed to sponsor the first project. They will also receive materials from Habitat for Humanity International?s Gifts-in-Kind program, and will use the tool trailor they purchased with a grant from the Greater Jefferson County Grant Foundation to haul supplies.