Fix is in for her
National Rebuilding Day godsend for Brooklyn senior
LUCILLE MOORE was perhaps the happiest person in all of Brooklyn Saturday as a crew of volunteer workers descended on her home to perform much-needed repairs.
The 81-year-old Brownsville resident sat in her living room easy chair with a smile plastered across her face while 14 mostly amateur repairers made fixes to her basement, chimney and roof.
“More than anything in the world, you really wouldn’t know how glad I am that they are here,” said Moore, who used to work at Bloomingdale’s selling fine china.
The big-hearted volunteers came out in force to help Moore during National Rebuilding Day, an event created by the Rebuilding Together nonprofit.
A group organized by Rebuilding Together NYC fanned out across the neighborhood, performing work at a total of 10 sites.
They helped build a community garden at the Seth Low Houses and made repairs to the playground at Van Dyke Center Park.
Rebuilding Together said more than 33,000 volunteers particpated across the country, working on roughly 1,500 projects.
The volunteer hardhats had their work cut out for them at Moore’s two-story home, which she and her husband bought in 1969.
A series of storms starting with Hurricane Sandy battered Moore’s Montauk St. rowhouse in recent years.
The city performed repairs but major rainfalls still lead to flooding in her dilapidated basement.
The space, once an art studio used by her late husband Frank, has been riven with many leaks and so much mold that Moore hasn’t stepped foot in it in five years.
“He usually took care of the stuff around the house,” Moore said of Frank, who died from cancer in January 2013.
Giselle Pemberton, an IT analyst, looked like a seasoned pro as she examined the chipped exterior of the house.
“I don’t have a project of my own, so why not help out?” said Pemberton, 40.
“People like me get paid by coming and learning.”
The work crew included some professionals from Shawmut Construction, a longtime sponsor of Rebuilding Together NYC.
One of them, Marilyn Ordonez, 36, prepared to pull apart a basement closet covered in fungus.
“That will be my job today,” Ordonez said, pointing at the closet’s blackened wall and floor.
“I can tell by looking at it that the mold went up at least two feet.”
Bill Pulaski, 58, an electrician, realized he had a long day ahead when he laid eyes on the wiring by Moore’s back door.
“We’ll check for faulty wiring, add boxes,” he said. “This has got to be 80 years old.”
Kimberly George, executive director of Rebuilding Together NYC, said applicants typically come to the group through case managers and other referrals.
The homeowners are chosen by meeting criteria that includes being at 80% or below the area’s median income level.
Moore found out about the program through a friend who works at the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation.
“I filled out the application and I forgot about it,” Moore said, laughing.
“I think he helped me too.”