Group builds dreams

'Habitat' offshoot tackles home repair jobs for needy families in county

For years, Annie and Eugene Hamm worried about the stairs.

Their daughter was physically and developmentally disabled, and it was becoming harder to carry her up and down the front stairs of their Aberdeen house.

"It got to be where we couldn't handle the steps," says Annie Hamm, who is 81; her husband 82. "It was dangerous."

What the Hamms needed was a ramp so their daughter, Betty, could roll down in her wheelchair. But a ramp would cost thousands of dollars.

"More than we could afford, I'll tell you," says Annie Hamm, who is a housewife. Her husband is a retired engineer.

Then a social worker suggested that the Hamms get in touch with the Harford County Habitat for Humanity.

Within a few months, they had a new ramp, at no cost. Dozens of volunteers helped build it, using supplies donated by contractors.

"It made a world of difference," says Annie Hamm. "We can take her out without worrying about her falling."

The ramp is part of FIXIT UP, a new program started by the Harford Habitat. Since January, the organization has made repairs to 13 houses.

Traditionally, the nonprofit has focused on building new houses for needy families; since 1994, it has put up 38, mostly using volunteer labor and donated supplies.

Habitat for Humanity expanded its work after another Harford charity group, Rebuilding Together, dissolved last fall. That group had focused on repairing homes of needy people.The group approached Habitat and asked if the nonprofit could take on additional responsibilities. Harford Habitat, and Joann Blewett, executive director of Harford Habitat for Humanity, agreed.

The new program has received little publicity. Even so, it has received more than 80 requests for help.

"These are low-income families who need repairs and they can't afford it," Blewett said. "If we can help them out, that's great. There's a big need for the program."

"There's such a great need for this in the community," says Kristie L. Kenney, FIXIT UP's program manager.

Blewett said she expects to get many more requests for help. Last Monday, the program was officially announced with a celebration that was attended by Harford County Executive David R. Craig and Maryland Housing Secretary Raymond A. Skinner.

About a dozen people, either disabled or caring for disabled family members, have asked about ramps. Some have told Kenney they haven't been out of the house in years.

The program provides ramps, fixes roofs and gutters, paints, repairs plumbing as well as heating and air conditioning systems, and does general maintenance.

Blewett said that even a seemingly small repair can make an enormous difference. One project fixed a downstairs toilet for an elderly and infirm woman. The toilet had been broken for months; the woman didn't have the money to fix it, and had to crawl up the stairs to use the bathroom.

"For folks who don't have the money, these fixes can really improve the quality of life," she says.

FIXIT UP is open to people who make less than 80 percent of the median income.

The program has received all kinds of donations. Many Harford contractors have donated time; others have agreed to work for low rates.

Perhaps the most unusual donation came from Mid-Atlantic Frito Lay, which gave the program a van that had delivered chips and snacks for two decades throughout the region. The truck, which was worth about $5,000, will be used to carry equipment.

So far, FIXIT UP has spent $31,000. About $26,000 has come from community groups, as well as the Harford County government.

More than 100 volunteers have contributed work, expertise and supplies to the program. One of these is Dave Hall. He has worked on several repair projects, including the Hamms. Hall, who is a mechanical engineer at Sparrows Point Steel Mill, is a crew leader, and helped oversee the volunteers building the ramp.

He finds the work rewarding.

"It's not like writing a check. You see what you've done. And you meet a lot of really neat people," says Hall, who lives in Joppa. Over the past decade, he has also helped build more than 20 Habitat houses from scratch, he said.

Hall also helped repair what has so far been the largest FIXIT UP program, the Schultz trailer. Over seven months, the program has put about $5,000 into the trailer. Blewett estimates that an additional $8,000 has come from donations of work, transportation and supplies.

"It was in bad shape," Caroline Schultz says of her trailer in Aberdeen. She and her husband, Richard, bought the trailer in 1991. They have lived there since with their adult son, Melvin, who is developmentally disabled.

About eight years ago, the trailer became infested with mold, which increasingly made the Schultzs sick.

"Sneezing, headaches, coughing," Schultz said. "It was very tough to live there. We had to go outside just to be able to breathe."