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Businesses, volunteers answer call for help
 
Rebuilding Together refurbishes 11 homes for elderly or disabled
 
By Keegan Kyle
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it             Full story  - Green Bay Press Gazette

When the modest concrete home at 335 Columbia Ave. in Green Bay was built nearly 75 years ago, it wasn't designed for wheelchair accessibility.

The doorways were thin, the kitchen counters were high and the house had no ramped entrance. Its total assessed value last year was $86,000.

The home needed some major renovations for its current occupants, Debra Naze and Tom Bluett, who both have physical disabilities. Bluett was paralyzed below his neck after a motorcycle accident, and Naze is paralyzed in one arm.

The aging house made it difficult to complete daily tasks like taking a shower or cooking, so the pair decided to ask for help.

They requested their house become a project of Rebuilding Together, a group of corporations that donate materials and manpower to refurbish homes for the disabled or elderly.

The organization selected 11 Brown County homes in January and began planning the different projects.

The Columbia Avenue home would need a lot of work. "It gave us the time to order materials so by the time (May) comes around we're ready to go," said Mark Bonovetz, president of the Green Bay chapter of Rebuilding Together. "We all do it to volunteer and the companies are very passionate about it."

Volunteers went to their day jobs last week and put in a few hours at the project homes after work. Some people worked until midnight Friday and were back on site by 7 a.m. Saturday.

Work at the Columbia Avenue house project transformed the concrete structure into a colorful, modern and accessible place to live. The renovations included a gradual entrance ramp, a new bathroom and kitchen, new floors, new plumbing and freshly painted walls.

Bonovetz estimates the work on all 11 houses could probably cost up to $100,000. Most of the materials are donated, and hundreds of skilled laborers volunteer.

"We have a strong relationship with the trade unions," Bonovetz said. "They'll donate their time, and it's kind of hard to put a monetary value on that end."

By the time renovations are completed on the Columbia Avenue home, daily tasks for Naze and Bluett should become much easier. And it's all thanks to some local businesses responding to a call for help.