Unless you’ve had the opportunity to meet Barbara Peters, you may not understand the impact of some home renovations on a house in Crozet.
The month of March is a significant one in Barbara’s life. It was in the month of March that she married her husband. It was also the month of March, eleven years ago, that he passed away. Since that day, Barbara has never slept in her master bedroom. As she grew more and more depressed from the loss of her husband, her house piled up with stuff, and her life became confined to an add-on living room. Describing her house as her “hell hole”, she sought to spend as much time as possible in other people’s homes.
When Dan Barrett went to scope out her home as a possible project last November, she was so ashamed that she wouldn’t let him in her home. It took a lot of positive reinforcement to persuade her to accept help. By the time Lindsay Payne, Kory Farmer and I showed up to meet with her, she had warmed up to the idea. By simply being accepted as a beneficiary for BGiA, Barbara had hope. This hope was evident as we saw the piles of stuff disappear from her home with each subsequent visit. Before BGiA, the task of getting her home fixed up was overwhelming. Now that people were going to be coming to take care of the painting and the floor in her home, she was motivated to deal with all of the issues that she could.
The 30 volunteers that came out on April 3 worked hard. But the work that Barbara put in leading up to BGiA build day was tremendous. She cleaned out every room in her house, stripped wallpaper off the walls and scraped off the glue. By the time the Darden team arrived to get started, the rooms were completely ready for painting. Of course, the most remarkable display of support that day came from Barbara’s family. Her brother and his wife, her sons and even her son’s girlfriend’s parents showed up to help out with the work!
After breakfast, courtesy of Bodo’s Bagels, and a quick organizational meeting, our team got started. I had anticipated my role as being that of coordination and running for supplies, but as it turned out, Darden students require little coordination. We lucked out and got a last-minute addition to our team, a woman with extensive painting experience, who was able to guide all the painting efforts in the house. In addition to that, Barbara’s brother was set to lead the demo work. It turns out all I had to do as a house captain was pick up lunch and then get around to painting myself.
Our team finished the day covered in paint, exhausted, and with fresh new blisters on our hands. Despite these war wounds, it was a great opportunity to get out of the Darden bubble and do something for the community. When I had signed up for BGiA, I didn’t think much about what I would accomplish. Now that we are nearly done, “the community” has a name, a face and a story.
The 30 volunteers that came out on April 3 worked hard. But the work that Barbara put in leading up to BGiA build day was tremendous. She cleaned out every room in her house, stripped wallpaper off the walls and scraped off the glue. By the time the Darden team arrived to get started, the rooms were completely ready for painting. Of course, the most remarkable display of support that day came from Barbara’s family. Her brother and his wife, her sons and even her son’s girlfriend’s parents showed up to help out with the work!
After breakfast, courtesy of Bodo’s Bagels, and a quick organizational meeting, our team got started. I had anticipated my role as being that of coordination and running for supplies, but as it turned out, Darden students require little coordination. We lucked out and got a last-minute addition to our team, a woman with extensive painting experience, who was able to guide all the painting efforts in the house. In addition to that, Barbara’s brother was set to lead the demo work. It turns out all I had to do as a house captain was pick up lunch and then get around to painting myself.
Our team finished the day covered in paint, exhausted, and with fresh new blisters on our hands. Despite these war wounds, it was a great opportunity to get out of the Darden bubble and do something for the community. When I had signed up for BGiA, I didn’t think much about what I would accomplish. Now that we are nearly done, “the community” has a name, a face and a story.
