NEW FAIRFIELD — Volunteers from Saint Edward the Confessor Parish are teaming up with the nonprofit HomeFront to repair the home of a local Air Force veteran and his family.
On June 4, a team of volunteers will spend the day making improvements and repairs to the 81-year-old’s home, where he resides with his two adult daughters and grandchildren.
Doris McDermott from Saint Edward the Confessor Parish said more than 30 volunteers have signed up to work with HomeFront — a Stamford-based organization that provides free home repairs to low-income homeowners — on the June 4 project.
In addition to the home’s living room, dining room, hall, kitchen, outdoor access ramp and back deck, she said volunteers will fix a cracked cement floor in the garage and install a new storm door, ceiling fan and baseboard heater.
“We’ll be doing all this in one day,” McDermott said, noting that it will be Saint Edward’s 25th HomeFront project.
According to HomeFront Executive Director Sean O’Brien, the New Fairfield church has been helping HomeFront “tackle large-scale repair transformations” for more than two decades.
“HomeFront is a great organization with phenomenal staff, who spend 365 days a year helping any and all people with projects of all sizes,” McDermott said.
The organization not only helps people in financial straits with home repair projects, McDermott said, but gives people of all skill levels the opportunity to lend a hand.
“You don’t have to know how to put in a window or put on a door,” she said. “A lot of people just need yard work or painting — some way of making their house safe, clean and beautiful.”
It doesn’t always “take a lot” to have an immeasurable impact, McDermott said — “sometimes, a small group of volunteers can make a huge difference in a family’s life.”
HomeFront has helped 40 families with home repair projects so far this year, and aims to help 80 more by the end of 2022.
“Our requests for help were high before the pandemic, but we’ve seen a big jump recently,” O’Brien said.
“We have received more than 60 requests for help in greater Danbury already,” he added. “We welcome more volunteers, community groups and supporters to help us keep this health pandemic from stirring up a devastating housing pandemic.”
To learn more about HomeFront, visit homefrontprogram.org.
