Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph by Daniel Sato

Fresh Look: Willow Glen homeowner Martha Martin (left) sits on her backyard bench watching Rebuilding Together volunteers repair her Bird Avenue home. The nonprofit group selects candidates from a pool of the elderly, disabled or low-income applicants.

It's home sweet home for Martha Martin

Rebuilding Together works repair magic

By Alicia Upano

Age has not slowed Martha Martin down. The 80-year-old Willow Glen resident keeps busy with household chores and keeps fit by walking five miles a day.

But Martin's Bird Avenue home has not fared as well. Martin and her late husband, Harold, bought their 1,100-square-foot home in 1950. Since then, termites have crept into the wood, and paint has chipped off the windowsills and flaked off the walls of her pink-hued bathroom. Her kitchen cupboards haven't been replaced in 56 years.

The repairs were more than Martin could afford.

She didn't understand how significantly her home had aged until she applied for a reverse mortgage to help her financially. Martin received the mortgage in December and has until August to complete the repairs. Under the mortgage, she is also required to keep the house in good condition.

Martin turned to Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley. The organization assists low-income, elderly and disabled homeowners who cannot complete large-scale renovations or maintenance projects on their homes. Martin had seen Rebuilding Together do wonders on her sister-in-law's home in Cambrian Park a few years ago. Like her sister-in-law, Marilou Huber, Martin applied to Rebuilding Together hoping that she would be one of the applicants selected for the 2006 rebuilding projects.

Rebuilding Together executive director Beverley Jackson says the organization can help only about one quarter of those who apply. But Martin's application--including financial need--met the criteria.

In addition to making much-needed repairs, the program also helps elderly homeowners equip their homes for safety. Martin's home will receive a new kitchen light, a grab bar in the bathroom, a safety screen door and a new garage-door opener.

Martin's is one of 30 homes, along with five community facilities, that received a Rebuilding Together boost in April. The materials are donated by businesses and individuals or paid for using donations. A variety of Silicon Valley businesses and organizations provide all of the volunteer labor.

GE Volunteers is sponsoring the work for Martin's home. On a sunny day in April, GE employee Rich Wolters is helping prime Martin's home for a fresh coat of paint. Typically, Wolters spends his workdays as the San Jose-based manager of quality assessment for General Electric's two new nuclear power plants in Taiwan.

"We like meeting people in the community like Martha," Wolters says, with a paint roller in hand. "We like to help out."

Before she and her family moved into her Bird Avenue home, the Martins rented an apartment in San Jose. Back then, Martin says, it was hard to find an apartment owner who would accept renters with children. But the couple managed to find an apartment roomy enough for them and their first child, Kathi. When Martin became pregnant with her second child, their growing family was too large for apartment living.

Harold was a World War II veteran, and the housing tract on Bird Avenue was offering homes to veterans for no money down. Only two parcels remained undeveloped, and Martin wanted one of them. All she needed was a $50 deposit.

"My husband gave me $50 for my birthday, and I came down here and I got a house," Martin says.

Eventually, builders constructed a three-bedroom, one-bath house on the property. Martin recalled they had almost no furniture when the family moved in because their apartment was furnished.

"We had a crib for our daughter, a bed for us, a kitchen table and chairs," she says, smiling at the memory.

Today, her home is well lived-in. Her son, Bill, was born only days after they moved in. She also raised her children Tom and Lori in the house.

In 1972, her husband died of cancer, leaving Martin to support herself and her family. She was a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. Martin estimates she walked 14 miles a day until she retired in 1988.

She has tried to remain active. However, Martin fell sick several years ago and suffers from frequent allergies to high blood-pressure medication. She was unable to keep up with the house because of this illness.

Then, as she was on the mend three years ago, she began to support her son, Bill, who is disabled. Martin says her son was injured in a car accident. As it was, Martin was living on a fixed income.

Yet she is positive, as she flashes a broad smile and a laugh for the GE volunteers who are helping rehabilitate her home. Typically, volunteer crews work only two Saturdays in April, but several GE volunteers came early to power-wash her house and prime it for a new coat of gray paint before the Saturday event.

On the scheduled work day, the crowd of helpers was considerably larger, with teams of employees and their families. Workers say it's a good team-building experience, and a way to contribute to a cause that they can see through from beginning to end.

It's also fun to get dirty with their colleagues, volunteers say, and sometimes it's an opportunity to switch roles.

"Sometimes we put employees in charge of the managers," Wolters says. "It works really well."

For more information on sponsoring, volunteering or applying for home repairs, contact Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley at 408.578.9519 or visit www.rebuildingtogether-sv.org.