Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga starts home restoration in Bushtown

photo Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity and BlueCross BlueShield prepare to improve Mary King-Russell's Bushtown residence off Citico Avenue on Wednesday.

Sixty-nine year old Mary King-Russell doesn't have the money or the robust health needed to repair her own home. So Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga is doing it for her.

Nearly two dozen volunteers stood in front of her Citico Avenue home Wednesday morning. several of them Bluecross Blueshield of Tennessee volunteers decked in aqua blue T-shirts. Other volunteers included Habitat staff and Bushtown residents.

All of them listened while Daniel Gamble, Habitat's neighborhood revitalization coordinator, gave marching orders.

"Our mission is to have no more poverty housing in the world," said Gamble. "We're doing it one neighborhood at a time."

Russell's home is among 16 houses and a middle school Habitat plans to fix up in the Bushtown community within the next year, said Dominique K. Brandt, Habitat's director of volunteers and events.

The plan is to complete Russell's and one other home and Orchard Knob Middle School this month. They will do weatherization, paint the exteriors of the homes, work on landscaping and repair the wheelchair ramps and porches.

Habitat is calling the project "A Brush with Kindness Revitalization Project."

The organization will host a block party at 12:30 Sept. 20 at the Orchard Knob Middle School field.

King-Russell stood with her two dogs on the porch as the group gathered and listened with pleasure to the plans to spruce up her home.

"I love it," she said.

Living with multiple sclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she can't stand outdoors for long.

She most appreciates her wheelchair ramp repairs so she can leave her home without fear of falling.

Habitat has quietly canvassed Bushtown homeowners' needs, raised funds and made repairs to eight homes in the community since late 2012, but on Wednesday the organization made its presence official by announciing the home repair program.

"We wanted to crawl before we walked," said Brandt. "Now we're ready to run."

Besides sending volunteers, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee presented Habitat with a $10,000 check. Some 150 BlueCross BlueShield representatives will volunteer with Habitat offices across the state.

Habitat also got a Community Development Block Grant from the city and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga for revitalization.

Neighborhood Association President Peggy Kilpatrick said that two decades ago she wouldn't drive down the streets where she walks today because she feared the crime that occurred on them.

She says Habitat is improving Bushtown and it now is a place where she invites people to live.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 757-6431.

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