Rebuilding homes and lives
Other Columnists
Hector Delgado was hospitalized for nearly five months
before returning home to Selden in August. A Marine attached to the 8th
Engineers, Delgado was injured in Iraq when a tank trailer fell on him.
When he got home, he found that his high ranch wasn't as comfortable as
he'd remembered. His wheelchair barely fit through the doors, and the half
bathroom in the lower level didn't suit his needs.
A Navy nurse who suspected Delgado might have trouble navigating the world
in a wheelchair told his mother about an organization that could help. That's
how Rebuilding Together opened new doors for the 24-year-old disabled vet.
Once known as Christmas in April, the national nonprofit volunteer
home-repair organization helps homeowners who can't afford to fix a leaky
faucet or a collapsed porch or a fire-ravaged home. The Long Island chapter -
started a dozen years ago by Sol Goldstein of Massapequa, a retired video
technician for ABC television, and Joe Botkin of Williston Park, a retired
school principal - has about 250 volunteers ready, willing and able to help.
In Delgado's case, the doors those volunteers opened up - the literal ones,
anyway - included the entry into his attached garage as well as several
interior doors. The craftsmen also added an incline so Delgado's wheelchair
could pass over the threshold easily and turned the half bath into an
accessible bathroom with a shower.
But other doors were opened in the process. For Delgado, who expects to
walk again, the sense of freedom is immeasurable. "If it wasn't for them, I'd
really be having a difficult time, both physically and mentally," he says.
Paul Moran of Freeport has a similar story. When his late wife, Josephine,
was confined to a wheelchair last year, she discovered that she was a captive
in her own house, with its porch stairs and its narrow doors. "She couldn't get
out to go to the doctor or rehab," he says. Rebuilding Together volunteers
arrived last November, rolled up their sleeves and installed a new, wider front
door, a 40-foot ramp that they designed and a deck off the front porch. They
finished in about three weeks - just in time for Josephine to roll her
wheelchair down the ramp and go to her daughter Desiree's wedding.
"That ramp gave her a real boost," Paul says of his wife, who died last
week. "Nothing's more important to a mother than seeing her daughter get
married." If you ask him, the Rebuilding volunteers did more than build a ramp.
They poured a foundation of hope, too.
Such stories are what Goldstein and Botkin work for. Stories like the
Brentwood couple who were having a hard time maintaining their home and feeding
and clothing their 10 children. Or the 95-year-old widow in Lindenhurst whose
home was rebuilt after practically rotting away from years of neglect. But
nothing would make them happier than to compile even more stories.
"We're having a hard time finding people we can help," says Botkin, the
chapter vice president.
"A lot of the people we help, they're too proud to let others know," says
Goldstein, the president.
Paul Moran isn't surprised that some people won't reach out for help. A
hands-on fellow before being partially disabled several years ago, Moran
admitted it was humbling to watch volunteers perform tasks at his home that he
once did himself. "Human nature, for most of us, says we have to do things
ourself," Moran says.
But, like Delgado, he encourages others in need to call Rebuilding
Together. The organization's only requirements are that the person in need of
help owns the home and meets the income guidelines. There's an application
process and, once approved, the work is done for free. Corporate sponsors such
as The Home Depot as well as individuals contribute funds, and sometimes
materials are donated by building supply companies.
Goldstein and Botkin pull all the elements of the job together -
identifying those in need, finding volunteers, and building community,
corporate and financial support. They're a dynamic pair who first joined forces
more than a decade ago after working to build a house in Huntington Station
with Habitat for Humanity International. Goldstein didn't want to lose the good
feeling he had when the house was completed. So he looked into organizing a
year-round service. That's when he connected with Christmas in April, based in
Washington, D.C. For years, he and Botkin guided the Long Island branch of the
nonprofit service.
About four years ago, Christmas in April became Rebuilding Together. "The
name Christmas in April was confusing," Botkin says. "We were getting all kinds
of calls, people asking if we sold Christmas lights and decorations. Plus, it
made us seem religious, and we're nonsectarian."
To those who've experienced the helping hands of Goldstein, Botkin, and
their corps of volunteers it doesn't really matter what the organization is
called. After seeing the difference they made in the last months of his wife's
life, Paul Moran has his own word for them: "Saints," he calls them. "As far as
I'm concerned, that's just what they are."
E-mail: gary.dymski@ newsday.com.
More information
To contact Rebuilding Together on Long Island, call 516-541-7322 or 516-741-
5291 or visit www.long island.rebuildingtogether .com. In New York City, visit
www.rebuildingtogeth ernyc.org.
The national Web site is www.rebuildingtogether .org.
