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Initiative Launched To Repair Homes Of Military Veterans

WAMC

An organization that works to preserve the stock of affordable housing in poor neighborhoods is expanding into a western Massachusetts city with one of the highest poverty rates in the state.

Revitalize CDC, which has helped hundreds of families keep their homes in Springfield with volunteer-driven mass rebuilding projects through the years, is expanding into Holyoke with an initiative to repair and rehabilitate houses of military veterans.

A project, timed to coincide with Veterans Day on November 11th, will fix up and improve the family home of U.S. Air Force veteran Scott Leary.  Built in the early 1900s by a friend of the Leary family, the house has been passed through the generations beginning with Scott Leary’s great grandfather. It is currently the home of Scott, his wife Jessica, and their three children.

"This house is like a member of the family. It houses all our memories," said Leary.

The two story house, situated on a corner lot in a tree-lined neighborhood of single-family homes, shows signs of wear and tear.

" On a scale of 1-10 with 10 the best, 1 the worst, I would put it at a six or seven," said Leary.

The family has struggled financially since Jessica Leary became permanently disabled with a back injury. One of their children is autistic and a patient at Shriners Hospital.   Jessica Leary said they applied for help from Revitalize CDC after hearing about the program from a relative.

" We still don't what to think," she said. " It is coming to be real now. We are still in disbelieve and shock. It is chaotic, but in a good way. We're excited."

 Colleen Loveless, Revitalize CDC’s president and CEO, said the work on the Leary family home will include new windows, roof repairs, kitchen upgrades, and the removal of two underground fuel oil tanks.  Contractors are already at work on the major home repairs.  Volunteers will pitch in with painting, cleaning and yard work on Veterans Day.

"We have Beaulieu Home Improvements working on the outside. Kitchens by Curio on the inside. We've got the fire and police departments from Holyoke, we have the veterans helping out that day. I'm sure we'll have a tremendous number of volunteers showing up," said Loveless.

Revitalize CDC has been planning for the expansion into Holyoke for about a year. The formal announcement was made Thursday at a community breakfast fundraiser for the JoinedForces initiative to repair and renovate military veterans’ homes in Holyoke and Springfield.

"We've had a wonderful wonderful welcoming and support from the ( Holyoke) schools, the business community, the city and state," Loveless said in an interview Thursday.

Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse said Revitalize CDC adds to other efforts under way that use federal and state-financed programs to preserve the city’s housing stock.

" It is not only affordable housing, it is homeownership and making sure people on the cusp of the middle class don't lose their homes. That is where Revitalize CDC comes in," said Morse.

In the past year, Revitalize CDC said it completed repairs to 53 homes in Springfield that belong to the elderly, veterans, people with disabilities, and families with children living below the poverty line.

The organization has a multi-year strategic plan to rehab and preserve hundreds of homes in Springfield’s Old Hill neighborhood, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the United States.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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