Home makeover not out of reach

In an age defined by text messages, e-mails, video games, television and thousands of other ways to never see other people, few things sometimes are more astounding than a group of neighbors getting together and working through the weekend to help someone in need.

Having lived through a simpler time, Dorothy Moore can fully appreciate the rarity of such a situation these days. Twenty to 30 people from her Eastside neighborhood are getting together to paint and landscape the house she and her husband moved into more than half a century ago.

“I knew they were great neighbors, but you just don’t hear about neighborhoods that do this kind of stuff anymore,” Moore said.

Her husband moved into a nursing home about a year ago and will most likely never come home. He suffers from dementia and sometimes doesn’t even recognize his wife, but she visits him almost every day. Moore pays about $6,000 out of pocket for his continued care, and her finances are quickly dwindling, she said.

Her house is painted a pale, worn blue, with white trim that is chipping in many places. The front yard has flower beds filled with small shrubs wilting in the dry soil. With the help of donations from local businesses, a group of neighbors is going to replant the yard with flowers and paint the entire exterior of the house.

“We would always do small things for her, but when she needed the house painted we said, ‘Gosh, that’s something we can do,’ ” said Kelly Fischbacher, whose husband, Tom, helped rally the neighbors.

Frank Hernandez, 77, is one of the livelier members of the crew. He didn’t do any labor Friday because of a torn left rotator cuff but plans on helping out today with his right hand only. His wife made potato salad and fruit salad to add to the bagels and coffee that are being donated by local shops.

“Everyone’s put in a little money,” Hernandez said.

Debbie Culp, who works as a project manager, has been one of the biggest organizing forces in the group. Her grandmother, who bought the house in which she lives in 1953, was friends with Moore. Culp, a single mother of two, procured most of the donations, including all the paint, which was donated by Behr Paint.

“Can you tell I’m a project manager?” she said with a grin, as she walked around with a detailed schedule of the weekend’s work.

The group hopes to finish all of its tasks by tonight.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at [email protected].