Materials and volunteers from the Home Depot in West Roxbury are likely to be used in Project Homefront, a program designed to help military families repair and maintain their homes.
Families with loved ones deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom may be getting emotional support from coworkers, friends and relatives. Now, thanks to The Home Depot and two nonprofit volunteer groups, those same families can also get help with home repairs and maintenance.
Home Depot teamed up with Rebuilding Together and USA Freedom Corps to launch Project Homefront earlier this month. The Atlanta-based home improvement retailer originally created the program to help the spouses and parents of employees on active military duty with minor home repairs – from patching a leaky roof to replacing a broken window. The company later decided to expand the program to help all military families.
The project is geared to families who can no longer take care of such home repairs because a relative who handled those chores is overseas in active service. With more than 1,700 employees currently serving in the military, Home Depot has made an initial donation of $1 million as well as a million volunteer hours for the effort. Organizers are now trying to draw more donations.
“One of our objectives is to get the word out so that other individuals, corporations and companies understand that this project is occurring and the general public can participate through financial contributions and volunteer time,” said Lottie Gatewood, a spokesperson for Rebuilding Together, a national group headquartered in Washington, D.C., that rehabilitates the homes of low-income people.
Having worked with Rebuilding Together for several years on renovation projects, Home Depot sought the organization as a partner for Project Homefront.
“In order for this project to actually come about, they needed to find an organization in which to make it happen. Because of our long-term relationship, Home Depot approached Rebuilding Together,” said Gatewood.
Spreading the Word
With 260 affiliates across the country – including Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Haverhill and Newburyport – Rebuilding Together gave each office the option of participating in Project Homefront. In Massachusetts, only the Boston affiliate agreed to participate.
As of last week, there were no local applications for help, according to Nancy Sullivan, coordinator for Rebuilding Together in Boston, which will provide volunteers to do the repairs.
One of the challenges so far has been spreading the word to local military families. “We want to get out to the neighborhoods to find out who these people are. It’s not like we have a database we can use, and since we don’t have any active military bases in Eastern Massachusetts, we can’t call anyone up and get names,” said Sullivan.
Nationally, Rebuilding Together has received 102 applications for assistance from military homeowners, said Gatewood, and more than 2.7 million hits have been received on the group’s Web site, www.rebuildingtogether.org, since Project Homefront was launched April 4. Gatewood said the group will begin distributing the applications on a weekly basis to local affiliates.
Project Homefront does not have any set income guidelines for families applying for assistance. Generally, help will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis, but priority will be given to needier families, according to organizers.
A $2,000 cap for repairs per homeowner has been set, according to Gatewood, but some repair work can exceed the cap if there are additional local contributions.
Project Homefront volunteers will do minor repair work, such as fixing a malfunctioning lock or a leaky faucet. “We’re not doing major renovations,” said Sullivan.
That’s in stark contrast to the major renovation work that Rebuilding Together does every year as part of its National Rebuilding Day, when volunteers replace roofs, paint and gut entire kitchens for low-income elderly and disabled homeowners. During this year’s National Rebuilding Day on April 26, 15 homes in Boston will be renovated, as will transitional housing in Mattapan for victims of domestic violence and their children.
The Boston affiliate can only help homeowners living in the city, but Sullivan said she will refer homeowners living outside of Boston to the appropriate affiliate.
USA Freedom Corps, a group created by President Bush in January 2002 to get more Americans to engage in volunteer work, will act as a clearinghouse for any person that wants to volunteer for Project Homefront.
Military families who would like assistance can contact the Boston affiliate or visit www.rebuildingtogether.org for an application.
Aglaia Pikounis may be reached at apikounis@thewarrengroup.com.
