East Bay Christmas in April Changes Name, Keeps Focus of Rebuilding Homes for the Disabled
Originally founded in Midland, Texas in 1973, the organization became a national effort in the late 1980s, and in the past year the group has slowly adapted to the new name, Rebuilding Together.
James Pacheco, an East Bay real estate agent, spearheads the annual event and runs the Castro Valley chapter, which covers San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Hayward, Castro Valley, Pleasanton, Dublin, and Livermore. Other local chapters cover various parts of the East Bay.
Although the renovations take place in April, Pacheco’s duties for the all-volunteer organization, run from his home office, take place all year long.
Pacheco ensures that the local chapter uses its resources well, as the organization usually receives many more requests for help than it can possibly address. “All of our funds go towards fixed costs, such as insurance and building materials,” he explains.
Volunteers from the building trades and real estate community come together to provide the elbow grease needed to repair roofs, repaint, and perform other maintenance required by those who are unable to do the work themselves and unable to hire outside help.
Last year, the chapter helped 13 households remain in their homes by performing repair and maintenance work. This year, Pacheco is hoping to help “at least eight” households. “We’re restricted by funding,” he explains, noting that while there are plenty of helping hands, monetary donations often limit the number of homeowners they can help.
That concerns Pacheco, as this year there are clearly many elderly and disabled homeowners in need.
Pacheco says there is no ‘typical’ request. “Every home is different, of course,” he adds. “We try to help those who fall through the cracks.”
Often, homeowners are newly disabled. “They don’t know the system, and they’re ill. Maybe they’ve gotten an illness like MS or Lou Gehrig’s, and it just nailed them. They’re not old enough to collect senior benefits. Previously, very recently, they were often working adults,” Pacheco explains.
By providing the maintenance and repair services needed, the disabled homeowner is able to focus on other issues besides the cost and skill of keeping up their home. “That’s the goal of the program – we want to keep them in their homes as long as they choose,” he notes.
Part of Pacheco’s duties is to make a personal visit to all of those requesting assistance. “When you visit them and you look around, you can see whether they need help or not.”
Pacheco relates a story of a recent visit to a middle class neighborhood in the Tri Valley area. The elderly woman, in her late 70s, needed help with household repairs. When asked, she explained most of her children were out of the area, with at least one child serving in Iraq. A daughter and son-in-law lived nearby, but the son-in-law had recently received a liver transplant, leaving the daughter to raise their family while also caring for her husband.
“That’s one of the questions we ask, ‘Why aren’t your children helping you?’,” Pacheco explains.
It is deeply satisfying to Pacheco to see the organization help people in such situations. But he was something of a reluctant hero when he founded the chapter in 1993.
“At the time, my wife was working for Bank of America,” he explains. “She was approached by Bank of America’s volunteer arm and handed a brochure.”
Pacheco’s wife brought the brochure to her husband, asking him about it one week later. “I said, ‘Sure, I’ll go out and paint or pull weeds.’ But she said, ‘No, that’s not what I mean. I think you could launch a chapter here and do this.'”
Half laughing at the recollection of the chapter’s beginnings, Pacheco notes, “I said, ‘No way’.”
Thankfully, hundreds of needy homeowners and the East Bay in general have benefited from Pacheco’s capitulation and his wife’s persistence.
If you would like to make a donation to the organization so that more people can be helped, checks can be made out to “Christmas in April Castro Valley Area Inc.” and mailed to:
Christmas in April Castro Valley Area Inc.
PO Box 2414
Castro Valley, CA 94546
