
DATE: Friday, May 2, 1997                   TAG: 9704300179

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:  123 lines

GROUPS PAINT THEIR HEARTS OUT TO HELP NEEDY OLDER RESIDENTS SATURDAY'S PROJECT FOCUSED ON 4 HOMES IN PORTSMOUTH AND OTHERS ELSEWHERE.

Volunteers turned their brushes on four Portsmouth homes Saturday, participating in the Paint Your Heart Out Hampton Roads project.

More than 100 volunteers, many from the local Rotary clubs that sponsored the event, rallied after an early breakfast at the Tidewater Community College campus, and set off to help people in their community who can no longer help themselves.

It was all a part of a five-city clean-up campaign, which grew from Paint Your Heart Out Chesapeake, a 1991 one-day cleanup that came about after a Rotary member saw a similar service project in Tampa, Fla.

Throughout South Hampton Roads, 64 homeowners were helped this year.

To benefit from the program, an applicant must be 62 or older and have a combined income of less than $12,000. Applications from handicapped homeowners are also considered.

Under the shade of a tall tree that dominates her year, Maggie Vanall watched her home of ``30-some'' years change around her. Volunteers from the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center preventative medicine program and Portsmouth Rotarians worked on restoring the gray walls and white trim of her home, and recultivated the yard she prizes.

Vanall used to work all day, then return home to work in the yard. But debilitating arthritis caught up with her. Thin, short, and clad in a blue work jacket and a ball cap, she slowly helped the volunteers as much as she could.

Over the years, she said, she had worked the kind of jobs that don't leave many benefits, so her income is fixed now.

Dan Duncan, 81, clipped roots and vines away from a fence in the backyard. The effort had taken a toll on his gloveless hands, which looked raw from pulling the vines.

Duncan said he was glad to be there with his Rotary club. He has been a member for 42 years, and he wanted to support the club, because ``civic-minded people like to participate in these things.''

Jennifer L. Bridges, 23, and Gail C. Pittman, 46, worked on a small corner of the house, sharing paint from a small plastic bucket.

``I think it's a wonderful project,'' said Pittman, a Rotarian for eight years. ``It's doing a great job.''

Vanall stood off to the side and watched. She hadn't really believed anything would come of the visit a man made to her house after she applied for the program.

``It didn't seem real until now,'' she said.

Work concentrated on structural repairs as Masons from Portsmouth lodges repaired the porch and roof of Rosa Hamilton. Men sawed wood with a power saw, then carried the wood to the porch, where it was nailed in place to provide support.

As Scott L. Butcher, 83, described it, the Masonic lodges will use their community service experience to compete for the Hellman Award, which recognizs all-around excellence of a group.

``We're using this as a community service project toward the Hellman,'' Butcher said. ``You have a certain number of points in certain categories. The lodges that are here, when they file their paperwork at the end of the year, they'll use this as the qualifier for the particular category.''

Of course, it's nice to help, too.

``You see,'' he said, ``our organization believes in practicing community service. It falls right in with what the Ruritans are doing.''

``Rotary,'' corrected fellow society member Frankie Edmondson, 28.

``Rotary?'' Butcher asked.

``Yeah, Rotary,'' said Edmondson. ``There's a difference, you know.''

Volunteer John Thompson knows about hard times. Now 80, he came to Portsmouth during the Great Depression, leaving behind his home in Tarboro, N.C., in the search for work. He made enough to buy 20 loaves of bread a week - though, he noted, you could buy 20 loaves of bread for a dollar then.

He has been a member of his lodge for close to 15 years, and it has seen him through the recent passing of his wife.

``Masons do a lot things,'' Thompson said. ``They help a lot of people that people don't even know about.''

Brian A. Taylor, 41, whose mother's home, tucked in a suburb of downtown, was painted, said, ``This is a great thing to come about.''

Volunteers from Mt. Sinai Church worked on the grounds of the home where Doris Taylor, a 76-year-old widow, lives.

A relative of the Taylors got them involved in the project. Brian Taylor, who is disabled, said that while he and his family come out to work on the property individually, they could not have made a sweeping effort, as the volunteers did.

The church group said they were glad to work in their community. There was a lot to do. They pulled down gutters, replaced window screens and even installed fresh flower boxes on the woman's porch. There was landscaping and even preparation work for a new roof, which professionals will install in the coming weeks, the volunteers said.

``We hope we're setting an example for a lot of churches in the community,'' said church member Michael S. Henry, 28.

``And the young people,'' added 24-year-old Ronald E. McGinnis.

After removing window screens, which were recut from a long roll of screening and inserted again, McGinnis and William Fleshman, 28, stood by two front windows. A blue caulking gun in each hand, they applied the sealant around each pane of glass as others painted around them. The men did not wear sponsor T-shirts because of prominently displayed Budweiser logos.

For them, Paint Your Heart Out was more about helping people than advertising the ``King of Beers.''

``How would we look, supporting the church by wearing that?'' Fleshman said. ``I think it's great that Budweiser is helping out, but how would we look?''

McGinnis said, ``I think the pastor would have a heart attack.''

Both men said the church has made a difference in their lives, as had involvement with others who are in need in their community.

``It's all about making your mark on your own,'' Fleshman said. ``It's all about this: helping your community.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE

John Thompson, 80, a member of a Portsmouth Rotary Club, clears

vines from a fence in a home's back yard.

Photo by GARY C. KNAPP

William Fleshman of Mount Sinai Church paints a flower box at Doris

Taylor's home on Saturday. Fleshman also helped replace window

screens and added caulking to the windows.

Ronald E. McGinnis helps add caulking to the windows of Doris

Taylor's home on Saturday. McGinnis, a member of Mount Sinai Church,

said the church, and helping others, have made a difference in his

life.

Dwight Sessoms, front, and James Curry, back, paint Doris Taylor's

home. Volunteers from Mount Sinai Church completed many projects at