Charitable Acts and Appreciated Donations 1-23-09

1-23-09 Charitable Acts and Appreciated Donations

I met Mrs. P. when her roof was leaking. She called me in tears because she felt helpless and also because she was not accustomed to asking for charity. As she had aged, so had her children and that meant that her son had already suffered a heart attack and could not repair her roof for her. Not only was her son not capable of this strenuous work, neither one of them had the extra money for this absolutely necessary repair.
I knew she was eligible for a grant that would fund her roof repair but she would be added to a long list of people, who, just as she, were waiting for the money to complete important and necessary work on their home. Months went by and three seasons before her roof was finally repaired. We kept in touch and I kept assuring her that it would become a reality.
So, it was not unusual to receive an occasional call from her but on this particular day, she was as upset as when I first met her. She was frightened because water was running out of her light fixture above her kitchen sink. This was beyond my home inspection knowledge, so I asked the local wiring inspector if he could help me out and I was grateful that he could. I watched him work and I knew that expertise was our friend and that this woman would be safe, after all.
That was the day that I realized that sometimes there is a fine line between safe and unsafe and that everyone could not afford the tradesperson for half an hour to install a twelve-dollar life-saving item. Instead of the tradesperson, thousands of people each year meet the Fire Department or the emergency room doctor or the morgue and many millions each year is spent on housing damaged by electrical fires.
The wiring inspector told me that day that he wished every home had ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) outlets near their sinks. They prevent shocks to people and fires from overloading the circuit. The GFCI outlets are required in new construction. It is not until the existing home is renovated and a building permit issued, that updates such as GFCI outlets are installed.
That was the day that I quietly resolved to see smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and GFCI outlets in every home, especially those of the elderly and low income. It was not until I had some reason to believe that this could be a reality, that I dared announce it. I began to ask and I began to receive. A local company, Glynn Electric, agreed to send two electricians for a full day! They figured that at least one hundred GF outlets could be installed, especially if we began in an area of concentrated housing such as the mobile home park. Halifax’s Wal*Mart has agreed to help, also. By mid-February Halifax’s Senior Safety Program should be rolling out its first phase of safer homes by installing GFCI outlets in the mobile homes needing them.
In time, I hope to continue the program with smaller donations of time and materials. It would be too time consuming and difficult to organize upgrades in individual homes on the same day, scattered around town. However, if an electrician donated even one hour per year for this program, I could line up that person with one or two homes. Donations of small amounts of money or the supplies would enable the electrician to go in get the work done in lickety split time.
I envision a three-tiered structure where people who could not afford any portion of the cost, would have the work done for free. The middle group, who could pay for the materials at cost, would be matched with donations of the supplies at cost and free labor or labor at only the cost of the permit. The third group, who could afford to pay retail cost of the supplies but not the tradesperson, would be matched with the labor only.
The program has begun with a jumpstart because there are good people who do good things even in bad times. Won’t you join them?
Did you know that a GFCI outlet costs about twelve dollars? A twelve-dollar item could save a life. Did you know that the Town of Halifax has sixty-nine electricians?
Contact me with your questions or comments and with your intentions to help in some small way to make the homes of our senior citizens safe homes to live in.

Cathleen Drinan is the health agent for the Town of Halifax. She can be reached 781 293 6768 or cdrinan@town.halifax.ma.us