Firefighters save old house Firefighters save old house (April 16, 2004)

Volunteers work together to help local resident

By Dan Stapleton

Proving that the Mountain View Fire Department does more for the city than put out fires and rescue kittens from trees, firefighters are volunteering their off-duty hours to help people in need.

Mountain View's 70 firefighters have been working for the past month to renovate and restore the Blackfield Way home of Ruth Wolgast, 83. The 1951 house, where she has lived for the past 32 years, is a one-story home totaling just under 1,000 square feet.

Wolgast is a veteran of the World War II, having served as a naval supply officer at Moffett Field for 25 years, but her pension is not enough to maintain her home.

Consequently, she was referred to a group called Rebuilding Together by her physical therapist, who was helping her recover from hip replacement surgery last year. She said she decided to apply when she realized that she could not make the recommended accessibility changes, keep up her home and yard by herself, or hire others to do it for her.

Luckily, Rebuilding Together accepted her application in January, selecting her from over 280 others. "I think it's tremendous, and all my friends are saying that I'm really blessed," said Wolgast.

Rebuilding Together, formerly known as Christmas In April, is a nationwide nonprofit program that began in Washington, D.C. in 1988 and has grown to include over 250 affiliates in all 50 states. The local branch, Rebuilding Together Peninsula, has been operating since 1990 and has organized over 51,800 volunteers who have made repairs and renovations to 714 homes and community buildings. This year the program is working on 53 homes and 19 community buildings around the Bay Area.

"A lot of us don't live in the community, so this is a great way for us to get involved here," said local fire union president John Miguel.

This is the second year the Mountain View Fire Department has volunteered with Rebuilding Together. Last April, firefighters helped to keep a family in their longtime home on Whisman Road by rebuilding the roof, repainting the house and replacing plumbing, carpeting and light fixtures.

"This year's project, we're going to landscape an entire front yard and back yard, redo the roof and repaint the entire inside and outside of the house. We're hoping to get a stove and range and countertop for the kitchen, and we've upgraded the electrical," said Miguel.

The project's budget is $2,500, which would not ordinarily be nearly enough for such an extensive renovation, but thanks to the generosity of the community, the budget is realistic.

"We're getting people to donate time and materials, so we're hoping to do more than $2,500 would usually buy," said Miguel.

Wolgast is naturally thankful. "It's very exciting. My house captain is a Mountain View firefighter, and a lot of the guys that are helping out are firefighters, and they're just the nicest people you'd ever want to meet," she said. "I'm just terribly happy and overwhelmed with the results."

The target date for completion of the project is April 24, but Miguel said his team won't quit until the job is finished.

E-mail Dan Stapleton at dstapleton@mv-voice.com

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