Outside help
Hanover church group volunteers in Altoona for gateway projectBy William Kibler, bkibler@altoonamirror.com
Article Photos
Dale Gordon used to work for a living at P.H. Gladfelter Paper Co. in Spring Grove.
Since retiring 10 years ago, he feels better about the work he does for free.
The acid test is the smile it brings to beneficiaries like Robert Stoner, an 87-year-old of 111 E. Sixth Ave.
Gordon is the leader of an 11-person team from First United Methodist Church of Hanover visiting Altoona to fix Stoner's front porch and paint his house Friday and today.
"They're wonderful," Stoner said, sitting on his little back stoop Friday afternoon. "I'm proud of them."
The city's 2008 Gateway Improvement Project will finish 16 homes this year. Half are done, and seven more are under way.
Of the completed projects, most were siding jobs done by homeowners. The same is true of ongoing projects. The rest primarily are painting and repairs.
Maryann Pellegrine, who coordinates the program from the city planning office, said officials hope to start one more, which will be a siding job done by volunteers.
She said more volunteers are always needed, noting that there are four other properties that need to be painted or sided. The money that has been donated already is committed, though.
The city also used block grant money to demolish five blighted properties on the gateways to the city and has four more under contract for demolition, Pellegrine said.
The Hanover volunteers routinely do mission work, usually for a week or two at a time, sometimes in the Caribbean, a couple times in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and sometimes in Hanover, Gordon said.
The weekend trip is so three ''first-timers'' can get the feel for it, he said. His 47-year-old son, Jeff, is one of them.
A mechanical engineer, Jeff has wanted to do such work for years, having observed his parents and now 18-year-old daughter - who was able to see ''how the other half lives.''
Dale Gordon sees it as Christian responsibility to his neighbors, whom he defines as ''anybody in the world.''
By afternoon, the team, which brought with it skills in carpentry, masonry and painting, had torn off Stoner's porch roof to the beams and were unloading particleboard from a pickup.
A retired bricklayer was rebuilding part of the porch foundation wall that had collapsed during demolition.
Others were scraping and painting.
When the volunteers leave Sunday, the blessings conferred by Stoner's gratitude will outweigh the benefits of what they did for him, Dale Gordon said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.
