Volunteers help renovate Charlottesville home

The Rev. Ralph Brown’s father built the church Brown now preaches in, Holy Temple Church of God in Christ.

That was more than 60 years ago, when his father was a general contractor, before he became a preacher in that same church.

And, among the more than 100 homes Brown’s father built in Charlottesville is the one on 12th Street Northwest, near the church, where Brown now lives. The house is at least 50 years old, he said. When it was built, general contractors didn’t subcontract specialty jobs out, he said.

“This was a hands-on kind of thing,” Brown said.

Brown, a disabled veteran, said his father had a unique building style that favored dormer-style windows and all oak flooring. A few other houses in town were built on the same pattern as the one he lives in, he said. But the house has started to get run down. His elderly mother was living there, but moved out, and now he’s hoping to get the house fixed up.

Building Goodness in April, a volunteer project, will try to make that happen on Saturday.

Another group already has fixed up the structure’s plumbing and electrical systems.

The volunteers will help to change out old, broken windows and renovate the kitchen and bathroom, which suffered from water damage, Brown said. The family got some work done on the back of the house last year, but much remains to be done. He hopes they’ll also help paint the church.

It will be part of a one-day, region-wide blitz of home repair involving hundreds of volunteers from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and the local construction industry. The project is put on by Darden students and the Building Goodness Foundation.

About 70 homes are recommended for the annual project, but only about 15 make the cut, said this year’s executive director, second-year Darden student Kate Ryan of Titusville, N.J.

“Can we make it warmer, drier, safer within the constraints of the one-day timeframe?” is the concern, she said.

There also has to be work at the site for both contractors and unskilled volunteers and the potential for the aided family member to keep up the improvements that are made.

Many of the homeowners are dealing with issues including cancer, the deaths of loved ones, disabilities and other hardships. Common problems include bathrooms needing an assortment of work, unstable decks and damaged or needed wheelchair ramps, Ryan said. In many cases, owners are no longer able to pick up around the place and trash has begun to accumulate in the yard. Volunteers collect and dispose of the rubbish.

Seeing the difference students can make in the community is the best part of the experience, Ryan said. Students raised roughly $70,000 for the event this year. The main fundraiser is auctions, she said.

“It’s a really good way for the Darden students to get out of the Darden bubble and really see some of the needs that exist in our own community,” said Ethan Tate, Building Goodness’ director of volunteer programs.

Anyone interested in recommending a home for consideration for next year’s program can call Building Goodness at 973-0993.