Renovations done for moms in dire need of home repairs

Marvetta King is a physically disabled widow of a veteran raising three of her grandchildren, each of whom has medical issues.

She was barely making ends meet, scrimping and saving to pay for long-overdue repairs on her home. She was dealing with the little annoyances, such as the side gate that was falling apart, the windows that rattled in the wind and the oven that had been broken for years when the air conditioner broke last July. That was the last step beyond her ability to make do.

“This little guy was born with a serious brain problem,” the southwest valley resident said, indicating her grandson, Michael, snuggling with her in a large chair in her living room. “The temperature can’t go over 75 or he’s in serious trouble, and I didn’t have the $400 or $500 to fix it.”

That’s when a neighbor told her about Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada, the local affiliate of the national nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership and stabilize communities.

“We work on this throughout the year, but in the spring and fall, we bring together a lot of volunteers and sponsors to do big one-day events where we repair many houses,” said Cynthia Baca, executive director of the nonprofit. “In the case of Mrs. King’s house, we’ve been working on a lot of repairs for a while, but the final touches were done for our National Rebuilding Day event April 25.”

More than 900 volunteers came together to repair and paint 20 homes across the valley for low-income residents.

“They’ve done so much work to make this house a better home for me and my grandchildren,” King said. “They’ve replaced the water heater, the air conditioning, all the duct work, the tub and toilets. They put in all new faucets. My back door was an interior door, so that was replaced. My dryer was so loud, and you had to run the laundry through three times to get it dry. The ceiling fans wobbled.”

Bob Cleveland, a Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada project manager, handled King’s house.

“The ceiling fans only wobbled about 6 inches. It’s a feature,” Cleveland joked. “It rocks the kids to sleep.”

Cleveland explained that many of the repairs were meant to make the home more energy-efficient, and he estimated the changes would save King more than 40 percent on her power bills.

“The house was just old,” Cleveland said. “It was built in 1977, and all of the houses in the neighborhood weren’t built to current energy standards, but many of the neighbors have been able to fix things a little at a time over the years, and that wasn’t an option for Mrs. King. Our goal here is to reduce her monthly bills so that every month, she has a little more money to take care of these kids.”

Across town in the east valley, Christina Slowik was having housing issues two years ago.

“The house I was renting near Boulder Highway was just a mess,” the Air Force veteran said. “The sewage line was broken, and water drained into where the water heater was, and it would get so high it would shut that down. The fumes were terrible, and all of my cat’s hair fell out.”

Pleas for repairs to the management company were kicked back to the out-of-town owner. Eventually, she was told that her only option was to report the home to code enforcement, which put her in a Catch-22 situation. If she reported the home, it would probably be condemned, and she would have 10 days to move. If she didn’t report it, nothing would change.

With help from a federal program, she was able to find and purchase a home near the North Las Vegas Airport, and things seemed better at first. Her cat’s fur grew back, but after a few months, she realized that that home had major problems.

“There was a water main that I had a hard time convincing people was really the water main,” Slowik said. “At some point, before I owned the house, the water main broke, and someone who didn’t know how to do the work right capped off the copper intake pipe to the house and rerouted the main around to the back side of the house with the wrong schedule PVC.”

When she contacted Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada and a city of Las Vegas official took a good look at the house, it was discovered that a significant portion of the home wasn’t up to code, including an add-on room with running water and electricity that had to be removed.

“We have to bring everything up to code, and that’s where private money comes in,” said Baca. “In the case of this home, we have assistance from Wells Fargo, with a special grant for a program they’re calling the Healthy Home Challenge.”

Slowik’s home was repaired in part by volunteers from Cummins Rocky Mountain, a company that distributes diesel engines and generators. King’s home was funded by Lowe’s, with volunteers provided by Southwest Gas Corp.

Slowik is also on a limited income, raising her two youngest children, one of whom has Asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. She has three other children, one who works with computers in Texas and the other two in the military. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and loud noises for which she can’t see the source can make her nervous. She appreciates the construction, but it has been a strain on her.

“They’ve done so much work already,” Slowik said. “They’re putting in a new roof, fixed the water main, replaced all the faucets, they’re replacing the insulation, replaced all the air-conditioning ducts and vents, and they’re replacing all the lights with LED lights.”

Funding was found to put a couple of doghouses in the backyard for her canine companions. The project is about at the midpoint, and Slowik said things are already better.

For King, the big changes were important, but it was some little things that brought smiles to her grandchildren’s faces. A section of artificial grass was added in the backyard, and the children slept outdoors for the first time in their lives.

“They went out and laid down and starting making snow angels in the grass,” King said. “When the stove was replaced, Nicholas wrapped his arms around it and looked up at me and said, ‘Can we make cookies now, Grandma?’ We haven’t been able to bake in years.”

Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada is always on the lookout for sponsors and volunteers to help with its projects. For more information, visit rtsnv.org or call 702-259-4900.

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.