Valarie Schwartz
“Don’t my house look NICE?†Louise Hackney asked as she stepped outside her back door into the new garden of the Neville Road cottage where she has lived some 40-plus years, on Orange County property inherited from her father.
She looked at the azalea and gardenia bushes (one under every window) that will bloom come spring, the camellia already in bloom and the pansies dancing happily in the bone-chilling wind.
Hackney, 86, could feel no cold as she again surveyed the changes that had taken place in one week through the efforts of the 70-member “Fix a Home†team from the Chapel Hill Board of Realtors. Each year, through referrals from the Department of Social Services, a homeowner facing insurmountable needs becomes the target of the team’s goodwill and muscle power.
The exterior makeover will no doubt top Hackney’s list of gratitudes this Thanksgiving. Last year found her grateful that her son, Thomas, a retired New Jersey detective had survived a crippling stroke. Rather than go into a nursing home, he moved in with his mother, who cares for him with help from her daughter, Helen, who lives across the street. He also spends time in the homes of his children, who live nearby.
“All around here is nothing but kin people,†Hackney said. “I’d been wondering how I was going to get this side fixed,†she said, referring to the backside of the house that had been repaired years ago with inferior materials. “The whole thing was rotting down.â€
No evidence of rot remains, as the back of the house was demolished down to the studs and totally replaced. The week’s work included a power washing, then scraping away peeling paint from the entire home and painting on fresh coats; replacing gutters; landscaping the entire foundation with heavily mulched plants; and situating new rocking chairs and planters on the front porch.
“Lord have mercy, honey child, the Lord is good! I’m doin’ something right,†Hackney exclaimed.
On the other side of the endeavor, Christine Khoury, chair of the Fix a Home committee looked and sounded like someone grateful for the opportunity to expend a lot of energy for such a positive and welcome outcome.
“She’s such a sweet lady,†Khoury said, with her arm around Hackney. “From the time we walked in, you could just feel the love that she had for her home and for helping her family.†Helping another family is how Hackney spent a 40-year career, helping raise the four children of a Chapel Hill physician.
Khoury acknowledged the leaders of her team — Bill Whitmore, Carla Lunsford, Pat Neagle, Tom Mabrey and Sue Millager — who helped make it all possible through fundraisers, administration and elbow grease.
She also thanks two repeat vendors from last year who helped, Wayne Herndon, who offered his crew to repair the back wall, and attorney Tom Holt, who provided breakfast and lunch for the workers.
Also, Duron Paints provided substantial discounts on paint and supplies, Fitch Lumber donated materials, Greg Kelly power washed the house, designer Laura Koshel picked out the colors and rocking chairs and Rubin’s Bobcat Services and Mulch prepared the flowerbeds.
Khoury quoted JFK with a twist.
“Ask not what your community can do for you but what you can do for your community. Imagine that many people going out and donating their time and energy,†she said. “It was well worth it. Mrs. Hackney’s home is going to be a lot warmer.â€
And so will a bunch of hearts.
Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valariekays [at] mac [dot] com.