Volunteer Work To A New Level

Volunteer Work to a New Level

By Daniel Varrenti

In October of 2012, Carol Hannan, Val Ciciotti and two men I barely knew, Harry Snyder, Carol's partner, Kevin McCarthy, Val's fiancé, and I all met in the backyard of 65 Fayette Street for what I thought was going to be a couple of days of volunteer work.  For the next couple of Saturdays we continued to meet, talked and got to know each other while we cut down trees. I remember Kevin saying to me that he recently retired from Kodak in June and had some time to contribute to this project. Little did I know what Carol, Harry, Val and Kevin were prepared to do.  While cutting the trees members of the police department would routinely stop at the house and help after they got off the night shift.  One day Officer Lucas Vandervort, owner of Vandervort Tree Service, arrived with a crew and cut a huge spruce and maple tree that were too big for us to handle.  Within the next couple of weeks Carol closed on the house and we moved inside.  I remember saying to myself "what have I gotten into and more so what have I gotten into with people I don't even know." 

Little did I know that what was before me was the most challenging and time consuming volunteer project I would ever witness.  Collectively we began to clear and demolish the home.  My job was to tear down walls and ceilings as Carol, Val, Harry and Kevin not only cleaned up behind me, but also demoed (demolished), tore out old insulation, and removed old toilets, sinks, and soil pipes.  Anything that was recyclable was recycled.  Anything that had a value was saved.  All metal was brought to the scrap yard for whatever amount of money it could command.  It didn't take me long to realize our respective roles.  As I routinely reminded those that I worked with I had a non thinking role.  I was to simply do what I was told and I liked that role.  Harry was capable of doing whatever needed to be done, yet relegated himself to cleanup, drywall work, insulation installation, assistant, etc.  Val, while small in stature, had the strength, intelligence and stamina of anyone you would ever want to work next to.  She routinely, day after day, scooped trash with a snow shovel and threw it out the 2nd floor window into a dumpster.  Carol's job was all inclusive.  She demoed, ordered dumpsters, paid for lunches, hung, plastered and painted new drywall and while doing so, began formulating a vision of what needed to be done and what the end result would look like.  Then there was Kevin who I quickly realized was the most valuable person on the job.  There was nothing he couldn't do and didn't do.  From demo, to electric, to plumbing, to erecting walls, reinforcing ceilings, and hanging drywall, Kevin did it all and he did it meticulously and effortlessly.  While I was thinking he was doing.  I soon realized Kevin was going to be the foreman on the job because he knew what needed to be done and knew how to do it.

During the next 5 months I, along with other people such as Sue Sharp, John Morelli, our Village Clerk Leslie’s husband, Pam Ketchum and others gave their time as permitted but nobody was as committed as Carol, Harry, Val and Kevin.  During some point during the project Kevin told me he ran into a friend and asked him to help us.  Kevin's friend, Bill Johnson, also a retiree of Kodak, and not an employee or resident of Brockport, began to routinely show up on weekdays and weekends.  He's a master carpenter and he did things that I can only dream of doing.  There were many days, no weeks that I drove past the house and saw Kevin's truck in the driveway. In the end Kevin, amongst other things, re-plumbed and rewired the entire home, installed smoke and CO2 alarms, and built walls and ceilings wherever Carol's vision called for. 

By late April, Val, Kevin, Bill and I had pretty much given what we could give on the project but it still wasn’t done.  Some walls still needed to be sanded and painted and many of the floors still needed to be refinished.  For the next two months Carol and Harry worked at the home daily. 

After 9 months I believe it's safe to say the house is complete and will soon be a beautiful home for a family.  In the end I realized that people like Carol, Harry, Val and Kevin are of a special breed.  They don't look at what the village of Brockport does for them, but rather what they can do for the village.  In the end I believe I've learned more about home renovation than I could have ever imagined but more importantly made friends for life. 

Thank you, Carol, Harry, Val and Kevin for allowing me the privilege of working with all of you.  

Editor's note: Daniel P. Varrenti is the Chief of Police of Brockport.