Tradesmen Unite with Other Volunteers to Upgrade Homes

For 18 years, thousands of volunteers have fanned out into low-income neighborhoods of Chicago on the last Saturday in April to repair and upgrade homes for the elderly, the disabled and the poor. Among them are hundreds of union tradesmen, including electricians, plumbers and carpenters. The effort is coordinated by Rebuilding Chicago Together (RCT), a non-profit organization.

Wanda Ramirez, RCT executive director, said, they are one of 200 similar organizations across the country dedicated to improving impoverished communities. The organization grew out of neighbors helping a neighbor in a small Texas town and, in 1988, became a national effort. It was introduced into Chicago and suburban Cook County in 1992 as the result of concerns by the mayor and Cook County board president for keeping folks warm, safe and dry in their own homes.

Each year in July, the effort begins, Ramirez said, with first identifying neighborhoods where help is needed, then lining up people who qualify. They must be homeowners living in their own home and they can fill out applications through their aldermen, their churches and community centers. Mailers announcing the project are also sent out. In March or early April each year, the tradesmen visit the selected homes to assess the situation and plan their work and materials needed.

This year, 3,500 volunteers worked on 48 homes in the Austin neighborhood and 27 in Berwyn. Seventy percent were owned by elderly persons, Ramirez said.

Gary Niederkorn, president of Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said 70 of their members responded to a call for volunteers this year. Vehicles and materials were provided by the electrical contractors association of Chicago.

Volunteers include electricians who work for the city. "We put lights back into a kitchen that has been without them for years and the elderly owner gets all teary eyed and that’s your reward.”

Yard lights to keep people safe at night. Broken outlets replaced. A tangle of cords tied to a single outlet rerouted. “We’re keeping them from burning down,” Niederkorn said.

“Many of these seniors do not have anyone else to help them,” said Mario Miller, one of the electricians who goes out ahead of time to schedule and plan the work, and who often goes back later to do additional work. An electrician for 10 years, he has volunteered for nine. But, he volunteered for RCT even before becoming an electrician. When he worked as a film and video editor for an ad agency, he painted and did handy-man repairs. He said he changed careers because he likes to work with his hands.

The 55-plus-year-old home of 90-year old Emilia Tajkrt in Berwyn was one selected this year. The Alzheimer’s patient is cared for full time by her daughter, Linda Tajkrt, who was laid off six years ago from a long-time corporate job. Linda Tajkrt heard about the RCT program through an agency in Berwyn that was working with her mother. Although she had been trying to bring the house they have lived in for 53 years up to code, she knew there were many things she could not do. Washing and painting of the walls was the one thing for which she wished.

What she got were doorknobs replaced by levers, easier for arthritic hands to operate; a railing in the hallway; plumbing repairs in the basement; the yard spruced up and the gutters cleaned. Oh, yes, and every wall washed and painted, Tajkrt said.

Each house is sponsored by a group including churches, corporations, colleges, law firms and architectural firms. They pay for the materials and supply some of the unskilled labor.

The workers arrived early on an overcast April morning, many in a bus, bringing their own food, Tajkrt said. Some stayed into the evening to finish up. All day, there was music and laughter. “They even taught me how to paint,” she added.

Among those who stayed late to finish the job in another house were two of the 170 volunteers from the Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Local 130 United Association. When they began to fix a poorly draining toilet, they found to their surprise that the main pipe in the wall was damaged and needed to be replaced, said Paul Rodriguez, co-chairman of the plumbers’ group. It was a major repair.

His co-chairman, Ken Kolosh, told the story of a veteran living in Berwyn with one barely operating sink. The drain was leaking and there was no water pressure. “Now, he’s got two working sinks with hot and cold water,” Kolosh said. He summed up the feelings of all the volunteers by recounting the conversation he had with one man at the end of the day. “He had never volunteered before and was hesitant about doing it. When it was over he said, ‘I felt like a million bucks. It was the best thing I have done in a long time.’”

Kolosh and Rodriguez also credited the plumbing contractors who supplied nine vans for the workday and South Shore Plumbing and Supply Co., which provided materials, as well as the Allan A. Colman Co., which hosted a dinner for volunteers.

Tom Ryan, secretary/treasurer/business agent of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 13, said, “This is a great project. I wish we could do it more than one day a year. It brings a smile to your face when you see people with children where the toilet was on an open back porch. Although enclosed at one time, it had deteriorated badly. “Kids should not be living like that,” he said.

Some 125 carpenters turned out this year. They replaced exterior doors that were hanging off the jambs. They cut mold out of walls, reinsulated and repaired. They fixed dangerous steps and porches. “There are a lot of volunteers,” Ryan said, “but you need the skilled craftsmen to do some of this work the right way.”

Ramirez said, “We’ve been lucky enough to have support from the unions since the beginning in Chicago, and the work they do is instrumental in what happens in all of the houses. We would not be able to do any of this without their assistance and dedication.”

“I’m amazed and inspired by these people and companies that donated their time to make my mother’s life easier in a refreshed and safer home,” Linda Tajkrt said. “Each and every one has a spot in my heart. My mother worked hard all her life and my nephew (the only other member of the family) pointed out that ‘Grandma has done so much for so many people, maybe this is her due.’” Nevertheless, Tajkrt plans to give back by volunteering for RCT next April.

Virginia Mullery is a freelance writer.