<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Soccer players from the Tynecastle International Football Club, Alex Voin (from left), David Loeung, and Tanner Sellars, all 15, tear out nails as they restore a home in Shoreline, Friday, July 17. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Khadija Tarver, 15, a soccer player on the Tynecastle International Football Club, paints the side of the home in Shoreline, Friday, July 17. Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Soccer players on the Tynecastle International Football Club, Lukas Isaacson (from left), 15, Callum Wijelath, 15, Mark Elder, 14, and Nic Rowe, 15, dump a garbage bin full of dirt into a wheelbarrow as they restore a home in Shoreline, Friday, July 17.

ADVERTISEMENT

CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Community rallies to renovate widow's home

By Russ Doubleday
Enterprise reporter

On a sweltering Friday afternoon in a Shoreline neighborhood, community members came together to begin restoration on a dilapidated house for a widow in need.

The 67-year-old woman, who is a close relative of the event’s organizer and did not want to be named, is illiterate and was left with only $500 when her husband died three months ago. Her house, which is just a couple of blocks away from Hamlin Park, has not had any work done on it in 42 years. The house had long been considered an eyesore in the neighborhood.

“People look and judge (the owner) all the time,” said Raymond Kent, organizer of the home’s restoration. “Just because she can’t read or write doesn’t mean she’s not a fine person.”

Now, through Kent’s efforts, a number of individuals and businesses have volunteered both their time and resources to improve this house and the woman’s quality of life.

“I did this once before for a lady in Marysville which kept (her) family together,” Kent said. “The state wanted to take the family and dismantle the family. (I said) that’s ridiculous. So we kept the kids out of foster care and we kept the family together, which was huge. It’s about doing the right thing.”

Kent, through his company DynaSports USA, has managed to organize this massive effort. He received donations from two area companies, Rodda Paint in Lynnwood and Dunn Lumber in Shoreline, to help paint the interior and exterior of the house, as well as supply wood to construct a fence. The projects otherwise would have cost thousands of dollars that the widow could not afford. R. Little Construction has also pitched in to help, and both Diversified Electric and KZ Plumbing will come to help in the future. Kent also hopes that other local companies can donate some services and supplies to the home in the near future, and they are still looking for additional assistance and donations.

Coaches and players with Tynecastle International Football Club, a youth soccer club based in Everett, also contributed their time to help speed the process along. Led by head coach Dave Hoggan, a former player with the Seattle Sounders from 1994-2000, around 25 soccer players helped paint the house, landscape the front yard and gut the house last week Friday, June 17.

Hoggan held practice with the girls team that morning, he explained, and almost all of his players were at the house to help work that same afternoon. He said he was amazed at the players’ willingness to help a woman in need while getting nothing in return.

The woman is very happy for the help. After living in the same house for 42 years, the kitchen has never been worked on until last week when Tynecastle players came and took out all the existing and outdated appliances.

“I really appreciate all of the work,” she said. “All the kids, they worked really hard. I wish I could work that well.”

She has now set a goal for herself that mirrors the work in her home.

“My goal is to learn to read out of a Bible,” she said.

Restoration work began in earnest on June 15. The north exterior wall of the house was completely rotten, and the two windows literally fell out of the wall, as Kent describes it. Now, that wall is completely refurbished and has new windows installed. On Friday, with the help of so many volunteers, the front of the house was painted, the yard was torn up in anticipation of landscaping work, and a fence was built — all in under an hour.

The outside of the house will be finished up in the next week. Kent plans on the inside of the house taking two months to completely restore from its original condition. He is still waiting on additional donations for that undertaking.

Kent wants to push forward and complete the project while the weather is nice.

“We’re making this a better place to live, we’re cleaning up the environment, and the neighbors are going to appreciate (this) tremendously,” he said. “It’s so different working for money versus working for a cause. Most anybody can go out and work for money, and I believe all of us can come out and work for a cause.”