PARIS — Last fall was busy for the VFW 9787 Auxiliary in Paris. Two fellow veterans, one from Norway and one from South Paris, were struggling with home maintenance. Unable to afford to pay building contractors and suppliers to keep their homes habitable and warm, they turned to the VFW for help.

“This is why we have a relief fund,” said Rich Hatch, VFW quartermaster. “It gives us the means to help veterans in need. But the scope of help being asked for is increasing. We’re getting involved with bigger projects.”

The first home project the group tackled was for a disabled veteran in Norway who needed to have a rotted addition to his house replaced.

“Like a lot of the old 1900s houses, there would be the main house and people put on additions as they had kids,” said Hatch. “So this was a second addition to an addition on the back of the house. Leaves and pine needles settled on the roof of the second and over time built up and caused it to rot.

“Plus, when the foundation was put in it wasn’t filled in properly or sealed. Water would seep up with the water table, pulling moisture into the addition. It was in rough shape and needed to come down.”

The homeowner could not afford to hire a building contractor to do the demolition and replace the addition. His daughter approached the VFW to see if could they could help.

“We started working with them back in the fall of 2018,” Hatch said. “They requested that we handle the demolition. But there was early snow and we couldn’t get started.”

Hatch and a VFW team of four volunteers worked last winter and into the spring researching ways to fund the repairs. They consulted with a builder for advice on the most cost effective way to tear out the 34 foot-long outer addition and preserve the inner one.

“They couldn’t use their back entrance at all, leaving only one exit to the house,” said Teresa Drag, VFW Commander. “So it wasn’t safe. And it had a small attached garage that was falling in, too. We had to remove the garage along with the second addition.”

“I had Norway’s codes enforcement officer come in to help us figure it out,” said Hatch. “He looked things over and made suggestions on how to do it safely. He recommended increasing the pitch on the inner addition roof and taking down the garage. A new roof will be done later.”

The VFW crew started on the demo last August, hoping they could find a carpentry contractor for the rebuild phase. But the price was still beyond the homeowner’s ability. The Post approved tapping its Relief Fund to help cover expenses and the volunteers kept working.

They capped off the foundation area and built a deck over it. They also had to repair and replace siding where the addition had been ripped away from the house. Later on the deck will be made into a porch, with the roof repair recommended by Norway’s codes officer to be done at the same time. Hatch said he and his crew of volunteers are prepared to return in the spring to finish the project.

“He is so happy with the work we did,” said Drag of the homeowner. “I just ran into him at the grocery store. It was the first thing he said. They really appreciated the help.”

The addition demolition and repair wasn’t the only home improvement project the VFW tackled. As Hatch was busy in Norway, Drag served as project manager to replace the heating system for a Korean War veteran and his wife in South Paris.

The couple have lived in their mobile home for more than 20 years. Their furnace, original to the home, began to falter. They wanted to switch to a more efficient heat source but couldn’t afford the expense. In addition, the cement retaining wall that ran behind their home had given out.

“They were working with Community Concepts, but their situation didn’t fit the available programs,” said Hatch. “CC can pay to have a furnace repaired or replaced. But if it’s also changing the heat source, they can’t do that.”

“The furnace was so old CC felt it should be replaced but then they couldn’t do it,” said Drag. “The furnace would run, but it wasn’t going to get them through the winter. The VFW helped them pay for fuel while we worked to figure out how to replace it and close in under the trailer.”

A family member donated a pellet stove. With CC unable to take on the installation expense the VFW decided to cover it from its relief fund. Drag began calling around but no stove dealer was willing to install a used unit.

“No one wanted to touch it,” said Drag. “But I found an HVAC safety inspector who said he could help us out as an independent contractor. He determined what we needed for piping and exhaust and agreed to install it.”

While Drag worked with the contractor to replace the couple’s heating system Hatch was pulled away from his Norway project to winterize the trailer in South Paris.

“By October we’d already had some freezing nights and their water froze,” he said. “It was pretty urgent to get everything closed in before it got too cold.”

Last month Hatch tore out the buckled skirting, built a framework system under the trailer that would hold it in place and fastened new and old plywood to keep animals from seeking shelter there. He put in aluminum insulation bought by the VFW to protect the plumbing.

“We got the back of the home completely skirted, and a portion of the front,” Hatch said. He constructed the new skirting so that it can be refitted if the homeowners decide to replace the retaining wall in the future. “It was a lot of work for me. I spent three days underneath that trailer. I was pretty sore afterwards.”

Both projects will need a follow-up in the spring, but they are now at a point where the families can stay in their homes warmly and safely for the winter.

“The Oxford Hills community has helped to make these projects possible,” said Hatch. “Our neighbors have been very generous to the veterans’ organizations, whether it is the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or any of the others.

“By supporting us through donations during our Poppy or Buddy Poppy® drives and other fund-raisers, they have allowed us the means to help veterans in need, fund educational scholarship for the kids, to promote good citizenship. Most importantly, the support helps us honor those who have died fighting for our freedoms.”

The combined cost of materials to keep the two veterans and their families in their homes exceeded $2,600, according to Hatch. He calculates volunteer labor hours to be around 200.

“We had monetary help from the community,” Hatch said. “The Disabled American Veterans Chapter 11 – Oxford and Androscoggin counties provided a $100 donation to our relief fund. Bangor Savings donated $100 and Norway Savings gave $500. But it put a dent in our fund that we still have to recover so we can continue assisting other veterans when they need it.”

 

 

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