WOODBURY - The second annual Woodbury ecumenical effort, as part of HomeFront Day, sponsored by AmeriCares, took place on May 6.The event organizes one-day home repair "blitzes" nationwide to assist homeowners in financial need.
The Woodbury ecumenical team brought together more than 80 volunteers from the faith communities of St. Teresa's Roman Catholic Church, St. Paul's Episcopal Church and the Mattatuck Unitarian Universalist Society to tackle dozens of tasks designed to complete urgently needed repairs and other improvements at no cost to the homeowner.
This year, volunteers helped the Greco family of Waterbury.
HomeFront volunteers began at 8 a.m. May 5.
Inside the house, assistant house captain and St. Paul's parishioner Bob Radovich set to work with fellow volunteers to put their carpentry skills to use in replacing more than a dozen windows as well as several doors.
Other volunteers tackled faucet, drain and garbage disposal repairs, installation of an exterior water spigot, and servicing of the central air-conditioning unit.
Outside, volunteers and Woodbury landscaper Barry Burton organized a team of adults and teens who set to work with shovels, spades and picks to prepare sections of the backyard for reseeding and the laying of a new gravel patio.
Other volunteers worked at the base of the home's foundation and along the front walk to uproot spent shrubbery, turn over the soil, plant new perennials and finish the beds with pine mulch.
As the roofing crew completed stripping several layers of old shingles, volunteers on the ground gathered the debris into trash.Teens took up paint rollers and brushes to refresh the gray outside walls of the garage, while other volunteers moved inside to paint the Grecos' living room white.
Newly installed vinyl flooring in an upstairs bedroom was also put in. Three volunteers from MUUS set patching repairs to the concrete steps leading from the backyard to the street.
Rev. Wheeler, Rev. Wolf and St. Teresa's pastor Rev. Robert Kwiatkowski have provided both pastoral leadership and financial commitments from their respective churches to make it possible for the Woodbury ecumenical group to participate in the HomeFront program over the past two years.
