Photograph by Jeff Kearns
Ruth Achziger walks around her Longwood Drive property while Yahoo! employees work on the exterior and roof as part of Rebuilding Together's home rehabilitation program.
Resident says 'Yahoo!' after home cleanup
Rebuilding Together volunteers to work on Los Gatos home
By Gloria I. Wang
Los Gatos resident Ruth Achziger says she is finally able to freely move around her house with her walker, thanks to a team of Yahoo! employees.
About three dozen volunteers from the company worked on Achziger's 1,100 square-foot Longwood Drive home for two days in April, laying down new carpeting throughout the house and building a ramp from the front yard into the entryway. Volunteers also did some exterior painting, fixed drainage problems and installed insulation and vents in Achziger's attic.
Achziger, 78, qualified for those improvements through Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley, formerly known as Christmas in April. On April 20 and 27, Rebuilding Together "rehabbed" 38 units in the county-some facilities for nonprofit organizations, some housing for the low-income elderly population.
Achziger said she first heard about Rebuilding Together last summer from her Meals on Wheels delivery person. Achziger wrote a letter to the organization, explaining her financial situation and her physical limitations.
For seven years, Achziger had taken care of her husband, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and it drained the couple's finances. At the time of her husband's death 1 1/2 years ago, Achziger was being hospitalized for heart problems. Achziger now suffers arthritis and also from back injuries from caring for her husband.
"It's hard. It's very hard. If I could just get stronger I could do more things," Achziger said. Instead, she spends most of her time in bed, unable to do any cleaning or yardwork.
Achziger, a mail-order bride from Germany, was married to her husband for more than 50 years. They moved to Los Gatos in 1952, into a house that was the first built in Blossom Hill Manor.
Sarah Mordecai was the project coordinator for Achziger's house, through the Yahoo! Employee Foundation (YES). Mordecai looked at Rebuilding Together's list of available projects and determined the location, the type of work that needed to be done, and the homeowner's background-whether or not there was a "compelling story."
Mordecai and house captain Keith Scott, another "Yahoo," then did a walk-through of Achziger's house, determining what kind of repairs were doable in two days of work. "You don't want to promise anything and you don't want to start anything you can't finish," Mordecai said.
Yahoo! sponsored Achziger's project, paying a flat fee to participate and covering whatever materials needed to be purchased. According to Mordecai, the carpet and paint were donated.
As the house captain, Scott had the know-how to guide and work with the volunteers, who were unskilled in construction and carpentry, Mordecai said.
Working 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for two consecutive Saturdays, Mordecai said, "they had a ball."
"First of all, everybody really enjoyed the homeowner," who Mordecai said was energetic, appreciative and effusive. "She would always poke her head out and say, 'You're doing a great job!' "
Mordecai said that the volunteers also enjoyed seeing what the house looked like in the beginning and were able to compare it to the end result, after their hours of hard work. "You see what a difference you can make for somebody," Mordecai said.
"They did a beautiful job, that's all I can say," Achziger said. "I was just overwhelmed."
The week following construction, Mordecai and Scott did a "quality check" of the construction, making sure that Achziger was pleased with the renovations and cleaning up the equipment that they had left on Achziger's property.
According to Bev Jackson, executive director of Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley, the organization's premise is "warmth, safety and independence." That means that all projects focus on those tenets, rather than on beautification.
Rebuilding Together receives some funding from the San Jose Department of Housing; the city also helps purchase materials used on San Jose houses and buildings. Rebuilding Together relies on foundation grants, in-kind donations and sponsorships for the majority of its funds, however. Major sponsors include Home Depot and BFI Waste Systems.
Jackson hopes to schedule another rehab date for the fall, since the main reason for the organization's name change was because the leadership wanted to do projects year-round. Rebuilding Together is continuously looking for sponsors, skilled and unskilled volunteers and applicants.
Achziger says she appreciates both the Yahoo! employees and the work that Rebuilding Together does.
"Thank you a thousand times for this organization," Achziger said.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
