ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CULLS (AP)
SOURCE: KAREN JOLLY DAVIS THE (NORFOLK) VIRGINIAN-PILOT
THE RAINS KEPT COMING, and roofs started leaking, ceilings collapsing and elderly and poor people worrying. Housing officials called for help, and the sailors answered. - Eleven sailors tromped around on Mary Wright's roof, scraping off the shingles. They ripped away rotting plywood, only to reveal a rotting beam.
Inside the house, Wright wrung her hands each time shingles fell past the living-room window. But the timid 83-year-old knew the commotion was necessary.
Heavy rains and a leaking roof had caused her bedroom ceiling to collapse. The soggy drywall had fallen onto Wright's bed one night, barely missing her.
``I'm glad of it,'' Wright said about the repairs. ``I got tired of emptying the pots and pans when it rains.''
All 11 of the volunteer roofers are chief petty officers on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington. They came to the Eastern Shore as the first wave of help for a housing crisis caused by this year's seemingly endless rain.
Officials say as many as 300 homes on the Eastern Shore - most owned by the elderly or working poor - have been seriously damaged. They called for help, and the sailors answered.
``It's a worthwhile project, and we all wanted to get involved,'' said John Stiles, a machinist's mate on the George Washington.
``Two things struck me about it,'' he said. ``One, the people were unable to help themselves. And it was through no fault of their own.''
The aircraft carrier's volunteers aren't the only group to offer help after learning of the Eastern Shore's plight.
Calls have come in from church groups in Richmond, Charlottesville and Southwest Virginia, as well as from individuals in Hampton Roads, said Leona Mapp of Virginia's Eastern Shore Economic Empowerment and Housing Corp.
Six local contractors have offered to donate a day or more of labor. And the housing corporation is pressing state and federal agencies for funding.
``We're just taking the lead in doing what has to be done, because the need is critical and urgent,'' said Art Carter, executive director of the housing corporation and chairman of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors.
Unfortunately, Mapp said, it's the end of the fiscal year and ``the kitties are all empty.''
Another problem is the complexity of federal grant applications. Mapp and others are helping as many as 70 of the worst-affected homeowners to fill out applications for federal Rural Development Administration minigrants. She said that it can take two to four hours to complete the form - a daunting task for anyone, much less older residents.
``The part that is so very, very difficult is the budget,'' Mapp said. Applicants must prove they have no extra money for house repairs. ``But when you're working with elderly families, a lot of the time people don't know where their money is going.''
Wright doesn't remember when she moved into her house in Culls. She guesses 1920.
Wright worked for decades in a vegetable processing plant, until it closed. After that, she worked in a clam house until that closed about two years ago.
``I'd be working now if I could, but with this arthritis ...'' she said.
Wright has no children, and she is widowed.
``I don't have nobody,'' she said. When the ceiling crashed onto her bed only moments after she had gotten up, Wright was terribly frightened. Now that her roof has been fixed, her only problem is cleaning the house, which she refused to do until the job was finished.
``I ain't used to no dirty house,'' she said proudly. ``I was raised to be as clean as I could.''
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB