by Michael Bonts
Special to the Daily Record
Heeding the call from the Northeast Florida Builders Association to “Adopt a Grandma,” a volunteer army of builders, contractors, community groups and churches working under the Builders Care banner went to work Saturday on dozens of homes in desperate need of repairs.
The homes, located near Alltel Stadium, belong to Jacksonville’s elderly, disabled and disadvantaged.
Builders Care, a NEFBA program launched last October, has been renovating and performing emergency repairs on the homes of seniors, the disabled and disadvantaged.
“These people are not soliciting handouts,” said Ken Kuester, chairman of Builders Care. “They’re quietly suffering, praying to God that help will come.”
Builders Care provided that help. The program is funded by the Duval County Housing Finance Authority.
“This has been quite a display of how this industry cares about the community,” said NEFBA president Denise Wallace.
“Our ultimate goal is to lessen substandard housing in Duval County,” said Kuester, Builders Care chairman. “Statistics show there are between 45,000 to 60,000 substandard dwellings in Jacksonville.
“Adopt a Grandma” is the battle cry for the project’s official name, Operation Leverage, a marathon undertaking without traditional boundaries. The concerted effort will recruit resources of builders, suppliers and sub-contractors and match them with homes.
“We are going to put all the resources available and utilize volunteers and members of the Northeast Florida Builders Association to make a great impact during this project,” said Bill Wilson, Builders Care executive director and a veteran certified contractor.
“These people are my guardian angels,” said Evelyn English, one of the first clients. “They were an answer to my prayers.”
The small, frail 76-year-old woman’s plumbing was in shambles. A master of improvisation, English dealt with her problems by drawing her bath and cooking water from a dribbling, broken pipe outside her home.
“If you don’t have the money to fix it, you have to find a way to cope,” said English, who has been widowed for more than 20 years and survives on a fixed income.
But that changed after Wilson and Chris Simons discovered her plight.
English’s “guardian angels” brought a new refrigerator and stove and fixed her plumbing problems. They are leading the new initiative, which provides home repairs and renovations for the elderly and indigent. Fixed-income elderly represent a high percentage of those in need.
Simons, who reviews the applications for each project, estimates the program’s current funding will allow Builders Care to respond to the needs of the community. But he expects their resources and capabilities to grow.
Builders Care specializes in making homes handicapped accessible, repairing roofs, siding, leaks, painting, general repairs and installing heating and air conditioning.
“Our purpose is to provide renovation and repairs for those who could not otherwise afford them. We aren’t competing with the remodeling trade. The people we help couldn’t afford to hire a remodeling or construction company,” explained Simons, who works closely with City and non-profit agencies in identifying needs in the community.
“With the Northeast Florida Builders Association we’ve got a great supporting cast,” said Kuester. “And I can tell you, nobody will be a more prudent financial manager than Bill Wilson. He can get more bang for the buck than, I dare say, anybody in town.”
Builders Care is more of a mission for Simons and Wilson than it is a job. If they’re not coordinating the details of fixing a home, they’re out in the community spreading the word about the program. Not only do they need more funding to handle more projects, they want more people to know the program is available.
“We want to restore dignity to these people’s lives,” said Simons. “Most of them are survivors, putting up with unbelievable living conditions, but they deserve to live better.”
“There is a great need for services of this kind in our community,” said Kuester, NEFBA’s second vice president. “People are living longer and are on fixed incomes. Repairs are more inexpensive and much more attractive then having them lose their homes and having nowhere to turn but to a managed care facility. Builders Care allows them to remain in their long-time home. They can hold onto their independence a little longer.”
“It is our moral and civic duty to help others,” said Wilson. “We have been blessed with much and the God-given talent to provide these services. Builders Care can be the catalyst for us to give back to the community.”
To participate, call Builders Care at 727-3443.
—Michael Bonts is communications director for the Northeast Florida Builders Association.