Volunteers renovate home for veterans

Steve Smith, a 63-year-old Vietnam veteran, lived in the Rest and Recoup House for seven months.

Before that, he was homeless.

The Department of Veterans Affairs helped him find temporary housing for 30 days, then he met someone from Volunteers of America, which runs the Rest and Recoup House.

“I was treated like a king,” he said. “I couldn’t thank them enough.”

On Tuesday, that house received a makeover thanks to the Home Depot Foundation. Part of its Celebration of Service, volunteers from Home Depot stores across the country are renovating 1,000 homes between Sept. 11 and Veterans Day.

To find homes like Rest and Recoup in Spokane, the national Home Depot Foundation and the national VOA partnered up for local projects.

“I think it found us,” said Sherry Caraway, manager of the Home Depot Foundation. Caraway said this is the third round of work volunteers have completed at Rest and Recoup. Two years ago, volunteers put in new sod, roses and mulch in the yard. Last year, they put in new flooring and raised garden beds for the vets to grow fruit and vegetables. The veterans use the garden produce in their own meals and also share it with their neighbors.

This year, workers are painting the house and replacing rotting siding.

Marilee Roloff, president and chief executive officer of VOA in Spokane, said veterans are referred to Rest and Recoup House through the VA. Their time in the home can vary.

“It depends on the circumstances,” Roloff said. “If they were homeless a long time, it takes a little longer.”

Some veterans are already working when they move in; some of them have recently completed a substance abuse program.

Jon Carollo, director of community-based housing, said residents save 30 percent of their income in lieu of rent while they are at the home. It gives them a nest egg for when they are ready to move into their own place.

There are two such houses in Spokane. At Rest and Recoup in the Bemiss neighborhood, there are five men living in the home.

Roloff said the work the volunteers were doing Tuesday is very important to the residents. She said new gutters might not make a difference in their everyday lives, but a new bathroom would, and the gardens and greenhouses are a game changer.

“It’s therapeutic,” she said of gardening.

For Smith, what they did at the home for him changed his life. When he found his own apartment, VOA found him a couch, a nightstand and a bed. They helped him get bus passes to get to work.

Every Tuesday, Smith volunteers at the VOA food bank to give back to the organization that helped him so much.

“They saved my bacon,” Smith said.