Young People Spend Week Making Emergency Home Repairs in Delaware

young and adult volunteers repair and resurface structurally unsound deck and build new wheelchair ramp for a homeowner (NRCS image -- click to enlarge) young volunteers strip the roof to prepare for the installation of the new roof (NRCS image -- click to enlarge)

Through the First State Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council Home Repair Project, groups of young people and adults have volunteered one summer week for the past 16 years to help those in need of emergency home repairs in Delaware.  And this year was no different with nearly 70 volunteers from churches in New York and New Jersey traveling hundreds of miles to replace damaged roofs and fix floors, windows, and doors in Sussex County, Delaware.  The project serves low-income homeowners in Kent, Sussex, and lower New Castle counties by assisting in the elimination of conditions that present an immediate safety and/or health risk.

Each of the 31 volunteers ages 14-18 was responsible for raising $150 in donations to help defray travel and other costs.  The volunteers and 14 adults arrived on a Sunday in July from Utica, New York, and Stewartsville, New Jersey, to put in long hours that following Monday through Friday hammering thousands of nails to complete repairs on 10 emergency home sites.

Chaperone Bill Butler said he got hooked the first time he came and has since returned five times.  Another chaperone on site initially started out as a youth worker.  Many of the young volunteers have also made multiple trips throughout the years.

The Project works with volunteers from a variety of community groups. “The Emergency Home Repair project is a great way for young people to get involved in improving communities and making a real difference in people’s lives,” said First State Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council Coordinator Bill Bell.  “It’s one way for people facing difficult circumstances to know there are other folks who care.”
Your contact is Delaware NRCS public affairs specialist Dastina Johnson at 302-678-4179.