Miss F

Miss F's historic home had been moved decades ago from its original location on Ocean Blvd to its current location on Long Beach Boulevard. Built over 113 years ago, and with its interesting history, the house was showing its share of wear and tear. Homeowner Miss F has been struggling to make ends meet and trying to get by without heat while watching the house deteriorate. Miss F is a 47 year old woman with epilepsy, arthritis, dyslexia and poor eye/hand coordination. Her boyfriend, who is a cab driver, lives there as well. He takes her to her doctor appointments and helps her be more independent. Her parents help her out as much as possible because she falls short of money each month. She receives $757.00 from SSI each month and her expenses are approximately $751.00. Miss F was in need of the help and repairs vital to her safety and comfort.

For these reasons, Miss F's house was chosen as one of this years projects taken on by Rebuilding Together Long Beach on National Rebuilding Day on April 26, 2003.

The majority of the scope of repairs for the home included scraping, sealing, priming and finish coat painting the entire exterior. The bathroom required full demolition and was replaced with new fixtures including a handicap accessible tub/shower. The front porch needed to be rebuilt and the house needed an electrical upgrade and a new heating system.

In order to accomplish all of these tasks, two additional working weekends were scheduled. Several weeks prior to National Rebuilding Day, a team of 10 or so skilled volunteers began the preliminary work. In two days of work, the team demolished the entire bathroom, replaced the plumbing drain and supply line, installed a new toilet, sink and shower. A skilled electrician installed a new 60 amp service panel. Also, volunteers from Habitat for Humanity tore out the existing front porch and its rotting wood footings and built a new porch approximately 12'x 4' with full railings and steps.

The following weekend, another group began prepping the exterior of the house. The volunteers, approximately 12 from Honeywell and six others spent the day going up and down ladders, scraping the old peeling paint, filling the cracks and holes, and by the afternoon began prime painting the side boards and intricate molding of the entire house. Meanwhile, inside, a volunteer from Clark Construction was installing the drywall in the newly rebuilt bathroom. As the sun was setting, the final brushstrokes of priming were put on the house, now ready for the finish work to be done the next weekend on National Rebuilding day.

Approximately 70 volunteers participated at Miss F's house on April 26th. The majority of the volunteers were from Epson, Honeywell, Rancho Los Amigos Occupational Therapists and First Congregational Church. A local contractor donated and assembled full scaffolding around the house for the volunteers to use. Armed with rollers and brushes the volunteers worked all day to paint the ornate exterior using three colors, chosen in keeping with the home's historic style. During lunch, a press conference was held on the front porch, as the volunteers enjoyed the lunch food provided by Epson Corp. Appreciation certificates were handed out to major contributors, and special thanks were given to all volunteers. Miss F made a very thankful speech to the crowd, saying she wished she could pay these volunteers for their work.

After lunch, the remaining hours of the day were spent finishing the painting, cleaning up drop cloths, hauling away garbage and putting away supplies. At approximately 5:00 the site was cleared of volunteers and the work completed. A few follow-up items have been taken care of after the National Rebuilding Day. Several skilled volunteers have gone back to thej house to add circuits to Miss F's electrical panel, and put an earthquake strap on the water heater.

As part of “Make a Difference Day” on October 25, 2003, we plan to have a few volunteers give the newly built bathroom a finish coat of paint, and do some final yard cleanup.