Fifteen homes in Springfield damaged by last year’s tornadoes and other storms will be renovated this month by a local chapter of the national home renovation nonprofit, Rebuilding Together.
The fifteen homes selected are scattered throughout the city and will be renovated with donated materials. One thousand volunteers are being recruited to do the work. The Golphin family of King Street owns one of these homes. Tammy Golphin is unable to work due to complications from diabetes, and her husband recently lost his job. Tammy golphin says it’s been difficult to make repairs to their home.
“When the winds blow and the house was falling and things were going everywhere and the paint is cracking, you feel hopeless. And people have come from everywhere. I am so grateful.”
Homeowners must be low-income, elderly, disabled, or unable to do the work themselves to be eligible for assistance. Colleen Loveless, the spokeswoman for Rebuilding Together, describes the work that will be done on the Golphin home.
“They had some tornado damage and you’ll see in the backyard, some trees are down, there’s a broken window, storm doors that have to be replaced, some painting, the porch is very much unstable, the railings need to be secured. We’re going to be kind of looking at all of that and working on this. And it will be all completed in one day – on April 28th.”
All renovations are expected to be completed by the end of April. Information on volunteering and donating can be found on Rebuilding Together’s Web site.