HOLLEY: Community comes together in spirit of good will for family

By Miranda Vagg<br><a href="mailto:vaggm@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Miranda</a>
The Journal-Register

May 11, 2008 11:34 pm

— HOLLEY — Debbie Renner’s home on Geddes Street looked a lot different when she got home from work Thursday afternoon. In fact, all week long it’s been going through a transformation. The front porch was torn off and a new deck has been built, the entire house has been powerwashed, there’s white vinyl siding on the face of the home ... and the only thing Renner did was ask for information on what she could do to fix her home.
A single mother with two children, Renner had been cited by the code enforcement officer because of the condition her home was in.
An employee at Head Start, she contacted its parent organization, Community Action. That’s when Community Action Angels took flight and began getting others together to fix the small red house.
According to Joni Dix, emergency services coordinator with Community Action, Renner had been given 15 days to repair the porch and 60 days to paint the house. Dix said Renner had contacted Community Action, and once they understood the time-frame, Director of Community Services Annette Finch spoke to the codes officer and was able to get an extension while the work was being completed.
Within a short amount of time, everything was in motion.
A group of men from the Action Network, a community service organization, took it upon themselves to tear the porch down while Panek Coatings powerwashed the entire house and then donated the paint for the project. A crew from Renner’s church plans to help finish the work on the house in the coming days.
On May 17, the family’s home is expected to have a fresh coat of paint on it — not only making it look nice, but also bringing it up to code.
“They’ve been great,” Renner said of the crews that have come to her home in the past week. “You find out who your friends are when something like this happens.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, students in the building trades program at Orleans/Niagara BOCES made the trip to Holley to construct the new porch and put up the siding. Albion High School junior Jason Javier and Lockport junior Jacob Kinney said they were working on the porch, finishing up the stairway and railing. Their classmate Evan Sheffer, also a junior at Albion, was taking to task trimming and fitting siding for the front of the house, along with many other students.
“They understand the importance of helping people,” Dix said of the students.
Building trades instructor Jake Daniels said they averaged about 18 students working on the house, generally giving four hours of their time each day in Holley. Daniels figured the total number of man hours would be about 150 by the time they left the site Thursday afternoon.
“It’s going to look like a totally different house,” he said. “The kids get a lot out of it.”
Though it’s a lot of work for Daniels — he invests a considerable amount of time into planning and drawing the structures to be built — he said it’s community service and he really does it for the people who benefit in the end.
Getting out of the classroom and into the community has been a warming experience for Daniels’ students. Rather than sitting in a class or in the workshop, now they have real-life experiences, according to student Michael Morici.
“This is where the real experience comes from,” he said. “It feels good helping out the community.”
Relieved to have the help she’s received, Renner said a burden has been lifted from her, allowing her to focus on other things needed her attention.
“It just look such a load off my shoulders,” she said.
Many groups and businesses participated in this project, including:
• Ace Hardware in Albion, which donated building materials, and Stockham Lumber, which is giving Community Action a discount on the wood needed for the project.
• The Eastern Orleans Community Center in Holley, which put on lunch for the students and crews working at the house Wednesday and Thursday.
• Community Action Transportation System provided transportation for the students from BOCES in Shelby to Holley, which ultimately allowed the students to work on the project.
• A Dumpster was donated by DP Rolloff, and landfill space was donated by Metalico Transfer Landfill in Rochester.
• There were also monetary donations given toward to the work, Dix said.
Contact reporter Miranda Vagg at 798-1400, ext. 2225.

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