Date: Fri 10-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

AmeriCares-HomeFront-

Full Text:

A Labor Of Love On The Home Front

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Martha Porubanik stood in her backyard watching the dozens of volunteers who

clambered over her house, ripping off shingles, scraping window frames and

carefully removing the gutters for painting.

The workers, wearing T-shirts imprinted with "AmeriCare's HomeFront" and "A

Labor of Love," had begun arriving at 6 am on Saturday, and within a few hours

had removed two layers of roofing, throwing the debris into a huge dumpster

parked in front of the house.

"I am so grateful," Mrs Porubanik said. "I'm a widow, and I'm just financially

not able to do these kind of repairs."

Volunteers from Trinity Church, the Congregational Church and St Rose of Lima

Church were among more than 8,000 volunteers who assembled on Saturday to

repair 160 homes in Connecticut and New York under the auspices of AmeriCares

HomeFront, a one-day home repair program that rehabilitates the homes of

elderly, low-income or disabled persons.

Thirteen of the houses were in Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, Ridgefield,

Newtown and New Fairfield. Knights of Columbus members from St Rose went to

New Fairfield to work on their second house in a week; the previous Saturday,

April 27, the Knights did a major renovation of a house in Sandy Hook.

Mrs Porubanik, who has lived in the house on Lantern Lane since 1957, said she

learned about the program through a friend three years ago.

"Then I went to the Senior Center because they were saying that anyone who

wants to look into it should come by to qualify," Mrs Porubanik said. "I

didn't hear anything last year so what a nice surprise it was when I learned

recently that I was chosen. I consider myself very lucky."

AmeriCares HomeFront identifies homeowners in need, procures donated supplies,

obtains financial support and recruits the teams of volunteers to undertaken

renovation work on HomeFront Day. The goal of the program, now in its ninth

year, is to render each home warm, safe and dry.

Through the program, civic groups, churches and individuals sponsor a home for

$1,500, and corporate sponsors donate $2,500 a site. Building products

corporations also make large contributions so that for every $2,580 of cash

invested, HomeFront is able to add $12,850 value to the home. On the average,

each house is allocated between $2,100 and $2,300 worth of materials and

several thousand dollars worth of free labor.

To qualify for this assistance, homeowners must have an annual household

salary of $20,000 or less. Most of the people helped through this project are

elderly, disabled or people with no savings or those burdened with large

medical bills.

At Mrs Porubanik's house, the volunteers re-glazed windows, painted the frames

and gutters, did landscaping and replaced the roof. Some projects, like the

one the Knights worked on the previous week, were much more extensive,

requiring new electrical systems, plumbing and heating.

Many volunteers worked all day, others took shifts. By the time the job at Mrs

Porubanik's house was done, about 30 volunteers had participated including

members of the Trinity Youth Group, who were getting ready for their annual

work camp during which they spend a week on projects in Appalachia.

Businesses including Mayers Bagels, Stop & Shop and Cadbury Beverages kept the

volunteers well fed. Mrs Porubanik pitched in, too.

"I made my special potato salad," she said. "I do hope they like it."

Founded in 1982 in New Canaan, AmeriCares is a private, nonprofit disaster

relief and humanitarian aid organization that provides immediate response to

emergency medical needs and supports long-term health care programs for people

in more than 90 countries around the world. With an operating overhead of only

1.2 percent, it has been rated by Money magazine as the most cost-effective

charity in the United States.

Among its programs are AmeriCares Free Clinics, which provides free primary

health care to the uninsured and underinsured. The first clinic was

established in Norwalk in 1994; another is being constructed in Danbury.

The organization also operates Camp AmeriKids, a program that provides summer

camp experience for chronically ill and disadvantaged children. AmeriCares

hosted the first Camp AmeriKids session this summer in Fishkill, New York.

For more information about AmeriCares and its programs, call (203) 972-5535.