Ever so slowly, the Pen Lucy neighborhood is undergoing a face-lift -- thanks to the help of some of God's people.
Five Cator Avenue homes that once were stains on the community and havens for illegal drug activity now stand proud with splashes of paint, new drywall and other repairs by volunteers, including priests and nuns from the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
North Baltimore's Roman Catholic cathedral is working with housing and neighborhood groups to buy a dilapidated house each year and to make it livable again with gallons of sweat and thousands of dollars. By reselling those houses at reasonable prices -- and focusing on a single block -- the cathedral hopes to make a lasting impact on the neighborhood northwest of Memorial Stadium.
"We've even had drug dealers come up to us and say, 'You're ruining the neighborhood,' " says Robert Nowlin, who moved into the first home renovated and sold under the program. "For us, that's the highest compliment."
Mr. Nowlin says cathedral volunteers, working with the St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center and the Pen Lucy Improvement Association, have given him an opportunity to buy a solidly built home. The renovations also are helping the community take back its turf by giving residents a deeper sense of pride -- the kind that will compel them to call police about drug dealers, he says.
The program sprang from a meeting of a cathedral social justice committee, which wanted to do something about homelessness. After discussing ideas with St. Ambrose workers and others, members settled on the plan to use volunteers and a revolving fund to fix up homes.
The cathedral bought the rundown homes for about $10,000 apiece. And it gathered volunteers to spend about a total of 3,000 hours on each home, while hiring contractors to handle complex jobs such as electrical and plumbing repairs.
About $30,000 is spent to restore each home. After the work is completed, the homes are sold for about $38,000 each, with proceeds going to a revolving fund to buy and repair more Pen Lucy properties.
"The idea is to get a house that people can afford to buy. That's the goal," says Susan Tippett, a cathedral member and a coordinator of the repair program.
Transformations forged by the program are just short of miraculous, says Herbert Pope, 61. He moved with his wife, Celeste, in March 1993 from West Baltimore to a renovated home in the 600 block of Cator Ave.
