Back O' The Page Stories 9/06
By Scott Coverdale
It's been a while, now, since we first heard from Marilyn Robinson of the Drachman Institute. She was addressing the Tucson Housing Rehab Collaborative, of which we are a member, asking for help with a project that they wanted to undertake for a family in the Rodeo Fairgrounds neighborhood. An elderly couple was having difficulty because the woman was in a wheelchair full-time and unable to get into the bathroom. She used a sponge for bathing and a bedside commode for commoding. She had, however, expressed an interest in regaining access to the bathroom of the home that she had lived in for forty years. The Drachman Institute had drawn up plans to renovate the entire home, a plan that would have run to $50,000 or so. CHRPA and Direct Center for Independence stepped up to the plate, simplified the plan, and went to work.
Matt took on the project under the AZ Dep't of Housing grant. Direct Center for Independence kicked in $6,000, and the Institute offered the services of its students who were eager to get out of the classroom and into the community. A church group offered to replace all the windows in the home as well as the floor coverings, using a special $3,000 grant that CHRPA had received from Pima County. Matt coordinated the volunteers to demolish the walls and take out the concrete floor. Matt and Kyle framed the new walls, ran electric, and hung sheetrock. Direct's contractor tiled the new roll-in shower and plumbed for the new lav and toilet locations. This was a big project, and involved a lot of coordination. The result, though, is that the couple has access to a great and usable bathroom, which has noticeably boosted their morale.
"Thank God for you people," says Margie, the homeowner. "Its hard to say which is more beautiful-the bathroom or the workers!"
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