Repair Affair army cleans up for 8th year

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June 14, 2008

Volunteers fan out despite late start

By KENNETH HART The Daily Independent Sat Jun 14, 2008, 11:42 PM EDT

ASHLAND — Give them your old, your weather-beaten, your ankle-high grass yearning to be mowed.

No home-repair task was too large, too small or too menial for the Repair Affair army.

For the eighth year in a row, volunteers fanned out across the city on Saturday to perform work, ranged from painting to yard work to constructing handicapped-access ramps, for elderly and low-income residents.

About 200 participated in this year’s Repair Affair, coordinator Mike Miller. He said that number was down somewhat from last year, mainly, he theorized, because the event had to be pushed back from its normal date, which is the third Saturday in May.

“With school being out, I think what we may have run into is that a lot of people were on vacation,” he said.

Still, Miller said he was quite pleased with the participation, especially given Saturday’s cloudy skies and a weather forecast calling for thunderstorms. However, the rain stayed away, save for a brief, light shower early in the afternoon.

A total of 44 projects were approved for Repair Affair this year, said Miller, who is Ashland’s building inspection manager and assistant director of planning and community development. Five were completed early, which left volunteers with 39 to tackle on Saturday.

At a home in the 1300 block of Morningside Drive, a Repair Affair team, comprised mostly of employees from the emergency and radiology departments at King’s Daughters Medical Center, was busy painting, mowing, raking and trimming.

The lone non-KDMC employee on the team was John Wheeler of Ashland. How did he get roped into spending his Saturday doing chores for someone else?

“My wife drug me to it,” he said, somewhat grumpily, not even looking up from the new house number that he was painting on a set of concrete steps.

“Even though he’s not been enthusiastic, he’s really been a big help,” said team member Dianna Lawson of Johnson County.

John Wheeler’s wife, Randi Wheeler, was busy gathering branches and other yard debris to be hauled away by the city. She said he was having a good time, and she seemed a good bit more chipper than her husband.

Over on Blackburn Avenue, Rob Serey was leading a team of volunteers from WSAZ as they painted the front porch at the home of 92-year-old Ethel Hale.

Hale’s daughter, Cappie Thompson of Flatwoods, said she was extremely grateful for what the group was doing for her mother.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s a big load off her mind.”

Thompson said her mother turns 93 on Thursday, so “I told her this was her birthday present.”

Hearing that, Serey remarked: “You got off cheap, then!”

Miller said plans call for Repair Affair, which is sponsored by the city, to be spun off later this year as a stand-alone, non-profit organization. There has also been discussion about adding a second event, he said.

Also, Miller noted that Frontier Housing Inc. — a Morehead-based organization that builds houses for low-income families and is partnering with the city on the revitalization of the Pollard district — participated in Repair Affair for the first time this year. The agency sent its entire 20-member office staff, he said.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

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