PRESS ENTERPRISE
The finished product. After about four hours of work, the front of Jackie Carolan's home in Corona is hardly recognizable.
BY PETER FISCHETTI
COLUMNIST
January 31, 2014; 02:43 PM
I’m pulling weeds, tearing out dead plants, digging holes and spreading bark. It’s how I typically spend my Saturday mornings around our home.
But wait. It’s Friday morning, not Saturday. And this isn’t our house. Nor do I recognize all these people wearing navy blue or orange T-shirts. And holding hands and saying a prayer before starting. What was that all about?
It was about the James Project, a program at Olive Branch Community Church in El Cerrito. After some church-hopping, we’ve been attending Olive Branch for the past several months.
On that Friday, I joined 26 volunteers from the church and six from The Home Depot on McKinley Street at the Corona home of Jackie Carolan, 59, a single woman who’s been disabled since suffering a knee injury that left her unable to care for her spacious front yard.
The James Project is named after the Book of James, which has a passage urging love and assistance to widows and orphans. The program has donated about 2,700 hours of community service in the two years since it started at Olive Branch. More than 125 church members are volunteers, providing home repairs and landscaping services to those in need.
Jackie Carolan is one of those people in need. Eleven years ago, she broke a knee in five places while doing household chores. And after five surgeries, she continues to walk with pain.
“The pain depends on how much ibuprofen I take.”
She purchased her home, a repo, six years ago.
“The sprinklers didn’t work, in fact you couldn’t turn them on,” she said. “And there were leaks all over the front yard.”
Later divorced and living alone, Jackie was visited in 2011 by one of Corona’s code enforcement officers, and was told she faced a citation if her yard continued to violate the property maintenance ordinance. Having spent “a lot of money” on repairs that were poorly made and replacing the grass with sod that didn’t take, she was tapped out financially.
The church has worked with the city in the past to provide help in removing violations. In December, Patty Gunn, who with her husband, Jeff, directs the James Project leadership team, contacted code enforcement and met with Crystal Springer, an officer, to ask if help was needed.
Crystal suggested Jackie. Patty verified her condition and rounded up donors, starting with Larry Cook, manager of McKinley Home Depot, which has supported the James Project from its beginnings.
Along with the six employees who volunteered on their day off, Home Depot donated bark, gravel, rocks and drought-resistant plants, and provided tools for the rest of us. Olive Branch members contributed 20 percent of the cost.
Every two months, Olive Branch commits to a major project, with smaller ones as needed. In 2013, 65 projects or jobs were completed. Those helped need not be church members — or even Christians.
In four hours we were finished. Jackie kept repeating “I love it” and “It’s amazing” and “Thank you so much.”
Among those helping out was Crystal, the code enforcement officer, who was off work that day. It didn’t take long for her to inspect and approve the project. As we wiped our brows, she wiped the violation off the books.
What a satisfying and rewarding day it was for all of us. Driving home, I realized we had watered but not fed the new plants. Oh well, maybe when you pray before you start, the Miracle-Gro comes from above.
Contact Peter Fischetti at [email protected]
CORONA: Man perseveres after paralyzing accident
Steve Campbell, of Corona, was injured in 2010 but got heartwarming help from his family and the community
PETER FISCHETTI/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE Published: 06 October 2012 03:36
Steve Campbell with his wife, DeAnn, in their Corona home. Campbell was paralyzed from the chest down after a bike accident two years ago. The couple has been overwhelmed by the community support they've received ever since.
The first thing you learn when visiting Steve Campbell at his Corona home is that you don’t shake his hand. You form a closed fist, and give him one of those fist bumps so popular among athletes.
With the greeting over, you open your hand. Campbell’s hand remains clenched because he can’t open it. He’s paralyzed. From the chest down.
It was Saturday night, Aug. 14, 2010. He was riding with a bike club through Hollywood with about 150 BMX riders. They stopped at a park and some began doing freestyle tricks.
“No tricks that I could or would do,” Campbell recalled. “I was watching them from the edge of a large cement square, where the sign for the park was on. I rolled up to the edge of the cement square where the sidewalk was below. It was about three to four feet down to the sidewalk. The kind of drop-off I’ve done before.”
Since the accident, Campbell’s wife, DeAnn, has become his caregiver. But she suffers from Charcot-Marie Tooth, a neuromuscular disease that causes weakness and deformity of the hands and feet. She wears braces and moves slowly. The disease is degenerative, and that frightens her.
Still, to help make ends meet, DeAnn, 49, works part-time as an instructional assistant at Foothill Elementary School in Corona.
The Campbells, who have been married for 27 years, have two children, Colin, 24, and Alyssa, 21.
Both are college students, and both have their mother’s disease but spend as much time as they can with their parents. Colin stops by nightly to help his father into bed.
Campbell continued his story.
“I backed up as far as I could and I took a run at it,” Campbell said. “I didn’t have enough speed, so I couldn't keep the bike level and land on both wheels. The front end dropped and I went over the handlebars, landing on my head. “When I came to, I was laying on my back on the sidewalk. I couldn’t move my feet or my legs.”
Campbell remembers the ambulance ride to the hospital and getting an MRI.He later learned he had a spinal cord injury, damaged vertebrae and was paralyzed from the chest down.Inside and out, the Campbell home is spotless. The lawn is neatly cut, the bushes are shaped. The flooring looks new, as does the living room furniture.
The Campbells couldn’t do any of this work to beautify their home, but others could.They began after the accident and continued long after he came home following 18 weeks of recovery and therapy in hospitals and rehabilitation centers.The family’s church, Olive Branch Community Church, has a ministry called the James Project that serves those in need with 45 volunteers.The help began with the delivery of meals to the family, which continues two years later, said Sean Gagen, the ministry’s director. Along with DeAnn’s family, the church remodeled the master bedroom and the bathroom to make the home wheelchair accessible.
Project volunteers did yard work, built a new gate, replaced ceiling fans and installed a whole house fan. Gagen noticed the air conditioning unit was 40 years old and inefficient. He contacted Geary Pacific Supply in Riverside, which sells heating and air conditioning equipment, and told him about the Campbells. “We have a demo unit right here,” the manager told him , “and you can have it for the Campbells.” With installation, it would have cost about $5,500. No part of their home has been untouched by others’ generosity. The Home Depot, Glowmasters Flooring, Inc. and California Flooring Express pitched in with goods and services. Friends and neighbors have cut their grass and performed whatever chores the family can’t. Numerous fundraisers raised money for medical bills, supplies and appliances for the home, including a new refrigerator that lowered their utility bills. The support — financially and emotionally — has been overwhelming.
“I am so grateful to everyone who has helped us,” DeAnn said. “And I give glory to God for all He has provided us.” Until the accident, Campbell was a technical writer for J.D. Lincoln, a manufacturer of adhesive films in Costa Mesa. Previously, he worked for Rockwell and Boeing. Unable to move his fingers, he’s had to relearn typing by using a pencil he can squeeze into his fist. He has become adept at brushing his teeth and driving his motorized wheelchair in and out of the family SUV, which is equipped with a ramp. Always physically fit, he has found exercises he can do. Much of what he’s learned was through the Casa Colina Transitional Learning Center, where he spent seven weeks preparing for the return home after a long hospitalization. Campbell, 50, undergoes physical therapy weekly at Casa Colina and works out twice a week with a personal trainer. Campbell’s goals this year are to use a manual wheelchair full time and gain the strength to lift himself from the chair to his bed.
Campbell already has progressed beyond what doctors predicted. His steel blue eyes display a resolve, a determination to stretch — literally and figuratively — towards a happy, productive life. When he first learned of his injuries, he said to himself, “I’ve got a wife and two kids. I can’t be paralyzed.” And during the arduous, painful rehab weeks later, he recalled, “I was in tears at Casa Colina. I thought, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’” The denial and frustration are mostly gone, he said. “But once a month, I think about what life would be like …” Then he thinks of the people he met while hospitalized. He says quietly, “Some were worse off than me.”
Steve Campbell with his wife, DeAnn, in their Corona home. Campbell was paralyzed from the chest down after a bike accident two years ago. The couple has been overwhelmed by the community support they've received ever since.
The first thing you learn when visiting Steve Campbell at his Corona home is that you don’t shake his hand. You form a closed fist, and give him one of those fist bumps so popular among athletes.
With the greeting over, you open your hand. Campbell’s hand remains clenched because he can’t open it. He’s paralyzed. From the chest down.
It was Saturday night, Aug. 14, 2010. He was riding with a bike club through Hollywood with about 150 BMX riders. They stopped at a park and some began doing freestyle tricks.
“No tricks that I could or would do,” Campbell recalled. “I was watching them from the edge of a large cement square, where the sign for the park was on. I rolled up to the edge of the cement square where the sidewalk was below. It was about three to four feet down to the sidewalk. The kind of drop-off I’ve done before.”
Since the accident, Campbell’s wife, DeAnn, has become his caregiver. But she suffers from Charcot-Marie Tooth, a neuromuscular disease that causes weakness and deformity of the hands and feet. She wears braces and moves slowly. The disease is degenerative, and that frightens her.
Still, to help make ends meet, DeAnn, 49, works part-time as an instructional assistant at Foothill Elementary School in Corona.
The Campbells, who have been married for 27 years, have two children, Colin, 24, and Alyssa, 21.
Both are college students, and both have their mother’s disease but spend as much time as they can with their parents. Colin stops by nightly to help his father into bed.
Campbell continued his story.
“I backed up as far as I could and I took a run at it,” Campbell said. “I didn’t have enough speed, so I couldn't keep the bike level and land on both wheels. The front end dropped and I went over the handlebars, landing on my head. “When I came to, I was laying on my back on the sidewalk. I couldn’t move my feet or my legs.”
Campbell remembers the ambulance ride to the hospital and getting an MRI.He later learned he had a spinal cord injury, damaged vertebrae and was paralyzed from the chest down.Inside and out, the Campbell home is spotless. The lawn is neatly cut, the bushes are shaped. The flooring looks new, as does the living room furniture.
The Campbells couldn’t do any of this work to beautify their home, but others could.They began after the accident and continued long after he came home following 18 weeks of recovery and therapy in hospitals and rehabilitation centers.The family’s church, Olive Branch Community Church, has a ministry called the James Project that serves those in need with 45 volunteers.The help began with the delivery of meals to the family, which continues two years later, said Sean Gagen, the ministry’s director. Along with DeAnn’s family, the church remodeled the master bedroom and the bathroom to make the home wheelchair accessible.
Project volunteers did yard work, built a new gate, replaced ceiling fans and installed a whole house fan. Gagen noticed the air conditioning unit was 40 years old and inefficient. He contacted Geary Pacific Supply in Riverside, which sells heating and air conditioning equipment, and told him about the Campbells. “We have a demo unit right here,” the manager told him , “and you can have it for the Campbells.” With installation, it would have cost about $5,500. No part of their home has been untouched by others’ generosity. The Home Depot, Glowmasters Flooring, Inc. and California Flooring Express pitched in with goods and services. Friends and neighbors have cut their grass and performed whatever chores the family can’t. Numerous fundraisers raised money for medical bills, supplies and appliances for the home, including a new refrigerator that lowered their utility bills. The support — financially and emotionally — has been overwhelming.
“I am so grateful to everyone who has helped us,” DeAnn said. “And I give glory to God for all He has provided us.” Until the accident, Campbell was a technical writer for J.D. Lincoln, a manufacturer of adhesive films in Costa Mesa. Previously, he worked for Rockwell and Boeing. Unable to move his fingers, he’s had to relearn typing by using a pencil he can squeeze into his fist. He has become adept at brushing his teeth and driving his motorized wheelchair in and out of the family SUV, which is equipped with a ramp. Always physically fit, he has found exercises he can do. Much of what he’s learned was through the Casa Colina Transitional Learning Center, where he spent seven weeks preparing for the return home after a long hospitalization. Campbell, 50, undergoes physical therapy weekly at Casa Colina and works out twice a week with a personal trainer. Campbell’s goals this year are to use a manual wheelchair full time and gain the strength to lift himself from the chair to his bed.
Campbell already has progressed beyond what doctors predicted. His steel blue eyes display a resolve, a determination to stretch — literally and figuratively — towards a happy, productive life. When he first learned of his injuries, he said to himself, “I’ve got a wife and two kids. I can’t be paralyzed.” And during the arduous, painful rehab weeks later, he recalled, “I was in tears at Casa Colina. I thought, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’” The denial and frustration are mostly gone, he said. “But once a month, I think about what life would be like …” Then he thinks of the people he met while hospitalized. He says quietly, “Some were worse off than me.”
CORONA: Community bands together to help single mom
BY LESLIE PARRILLA, Press Enterprise
STAFF WRITER
[email protected]
Published: 09 March 2012 09:58 PM
When Trisha Davidson opened a two-page letter from Corona code enforcement last month, she panicked.
The city threatened to levy fines or take her to court unless she cleaned up her front yard, which was filled with dead, diseased and decaying vegetation, creating a fire hazard.
The job seemed beyond what Davidson — a single mother with little money and no relatives nearby to help — could handle.
“There’s no way I could have done that by myself,” said Davidson, 41, who works full-time and is raising her four-year-old daughter by herself.
So Davidson emailed every Boy Scout troop in the area, pleading for help. And she drove to Home Depot on McKinley Street with the city letter in hand, asking the garden department supervisor for leftover materials.
“The only thing I was looking for was to see if… they would be throwing things out or if they could give me a few things,” Davidson said. “They asked me if I had a budget. I told them $100, if that.”
A Boy Scout leader emailed her saying he was a member of Olive Branch Community Church in Corona, which has an outreach ministry called the James Project to help people in need. She met with church elders, asking for help.
Several days later, more than a dozen people showed up at her house in the 1300 block of Palos Verde Drive. Volunteers included helpers from the church and Home Depot employees who brought donated supplies.
They laid sod and mulch, brought tools, flowers and sprinkler parts, roughly $1,700 in donated items from Home Depot vendors, said Assistant Store Manager Mike Bolin.
Davidson said the response was unexpected.
Volunteers plan to return March 17 and 31 to finish the landscaping and replace a dilapidated wooden fence collapsing from the strong recent winds.
“I’m just so thankful. ... I just felt it was such an amazing act of kindness,” she said.
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BY LESLIE PARRILLA, Press Enterprise
STAFF WRITER
[email protected]
Published: 09 March 2012 09:58 PM
When Trisha Davidson opened a two-page letter from Corona code enforcement last month, she panicked.
The city threatened to levy fines or take her to court unless she cleaned up her front yard, which was filled with dead, diseased and decaying vegetation, creating a fire hazard.
The job seemed beyond what Davidson — a single mother with little money and no relatives nearby to help — could handle.
“There’s no way I could have done that by myself,” said Davidson, 41, who works full-time and is raising her four-year-old daughter by herself.
So Davidson emailed every Boy Scout troop in the area, pleading for help. And she drove to Home Depot on McKinley Street with the city letter in hand, asking the garden department supervisor for leftover materials.
“The only thing I was looking for was to see if… they would be throwing things out or if they could give me a few things,” Davidson said. “They asked me if I had a budget. I told them $100, if that.”
A Boy Scout leader emailed her saying he was a member of Olive Branch Community Church in Corona, which has an outreach ministry called the James Project to help people in need. She met with church elders, asking for help.
Several days later, more than a dozen people showed up at her house in the 1300 block of Palos Verde Drive. Volunteers included helpers from the church and Home Depot employees who brought donated supplies.
They laid sod and mulch, brought tools, flowers and sprinkler parts, roughly $1,700 in donated items from Home Depot vendors, said Assistant Store Manager Mike Bolin.
Davidson said the response was unexpected.
Volunteers plan to return March 17 and 31 to finish the landscaping and replace a dilapidated wooden fence collapsing from the strong recent winds.
“I’m just so thankful. ... I just felt it was such an amazing act of kindness,” she said.
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