At 95 and a half, Elaine lives independently. She has owned her home on East 7th St. since 1990.
Elaine is proud to take care of her home. “I painted my house when I was 60, when I was 70, and when I was 80. And then when I was 90, they took my stepladder away,” she said.
She had a method for keeping up with the work. Rather than tackling the entire house at once, she painted one board at a time. It was a lesson passed down from her mother.
“She taught me that if you keep at it every day, you’ll always get it done,” Elaine said.
But even for someone as determined as Elaine, climbing ladders and painting a home is no longer safe.
Her niece Barb said, “We’ve caught her on the ladder many times over the last just couple years. Not when she was 70, but in her 90s.”
Over time, the exterior of the home began to show its age.
“You can’t even imagine how bad it looked,” Elaine said. “Just ratty.”
Elaine, like many older adults on a fixed income, was worried about costs. “You save [money] because you don’t know what’s going to break tomorrow,” said Elaine.
As someone who has always valued her independence, asking for help did not come naturally. “People like us that are independent, we don’t ask for any help,” Elaine said.
When she heard about Goodhue County Habitat for Humanity, she did not think she would qualify for assistance. To her surprise, she did.
Through Goodhue County Habitat’s Home Revitalization program, staff and volunteers scraped and repainted the exterior siding, installed new screen doors and replaced her aging screened-in porch with siding to create a safer space during Minnesota winters.
Elaine house painting and siding replacement project falls under Critical Home Repair under Goodhue County Habitat’s Home Revitalization program. Due to limited funding and availability, Critical Home Repair is offered at a minimal capacity.
Tammy Rindahl, Home Revitalization Administrator said, “We did the project because we just happened to have the right amount of funding, the right amount of time and because it was the right thing to do.”
Elaine is thrilled with the exterior improvements saying, “It’s the best-looking house on East 7th Street now!”
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Visit http://gchabitat.org/home-revitalization/ to learn more about Goodhue County Habitat’s work with Home Revitalization.