It's a little after 9 a.m. on a Sunday in March and DuWayne Bartels' wheelchair ramp is coming along pretty well.
That's thanks to the efforts of a group of nine volunteers who are building and installing it for free.
Bartels, suffering from complications of a heart attack, needs the ramp. And the volunteers need construction and handyman experience.
The first part of the ramp - attached to some stone steps at the entrance to the mobile home - is up, as is part of the frame that will hold the handrail.
The man in charge, Tres English, splits the team into smaller groups of two or three, and assigns them jobs painting, sawing and drilling.
Bartels' daughter, Mary Bartels, is preparing food. The volunteers - most of whom know one another - banter back and forth and trade tools, a huge selection of which are laid out, all named and marked, on the ground beside them.
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Over the next six hours they'll erect the handrail, add more ramp, and switch out the screen door at the home's entrance so that when it opens onto the ramp, it doesn't obstruct it.
Workers look for experience
Although they're here for different reasons, what they have in common is the desire for experience.
Kate Flax found the Green Retrofit Co-op in the Green Times newspaper. An artist and energy healer, she moved to Tucson two years ago from Rockland County, N.Y., and is in the process of making her own 1980s home and yard sustainable, she says.
"I believe in the concept of barn-raising," says Flax of her involvement with the co-op. "I believe in community support. And of all places this totally sprawling town has got incredible community."
Rick Campbell, out of work since last year, wants to set up his own handyman business. He figures he has plenty of experience from his own fixer-upper, a west side house he has since sold.
But he says the co-op is valuable in teaching him more. "These are inexpensive projects," he says of the work the co-op does. He recalls one past job in which they weatherproofed some single-pane windows then installed an extra double pane of glass on top - a good solution for picture windows, or small windows, that the homeowner doesn't intend opening.
"We added that and ended up with triple pane windows," says Campbell.
Mary DeCamp, an instructor at the University of Arizona, is here to pay back some volunteer hours. After the Green Retrofit Co-op worked on her home last May, she saw her gas bills drop from around $45 a month to $15.
Volunteers blew insulation into her attic, weather-stripped around her doors, replaced a bedroom window with a double-paned one, and added glass to a picture window.
DeCamp, a Green Party member who ran for Karin Uhlich's City Council seat in last year's elections, sums up the co-op's work: "It's simple, it's positive, it's win-win, and it's cheap."
Points earned through hours
Co-op members earn points through their volunteer hours. To qualify for work on their own home they have to earn as many hours as others will donate back to them.
That said, some projects are exceptions, and the ramp is one of them. The Bartelses were put in touch with English through the Pima Council on Aging, which knew the family needed help.
So far the co-op has about 24 volunteers, and last year it completed 16 projects. (Every project also has employed mentors, usually professional contractors, to teach and oversee the others).
But English has grander plans. He wants the volunteers to be "in the thousands," and to hit around 175,000 homes. That's the number of houses built in Tucson after World War II that are energy inefficient, he says, based on a study he carried out himself several years ago.
"The dream is to fix what we've got," says English, a property manager and licensed remodeler with a degree in engineering physics. He's not against building new homes, he says, just as long as they're on existing lots. It's urban sprawl that bothers him.
Aided by a grant from Pima County and with a $10 payment for each project from volunteers, the co-op grew out of English's Teaching and Helping program, funded by Pima County.
English turns down jobs that are too big, such as roofing projects, and also those that are too small. He tries to keep to something that can be done in a day and half, and his focus is on water and energy conservation, and handicap accessibility. He also wants to set up mini versions of the co-op in neighborhoods where homes share the same incomes and remodeling issues.
Finishing the job
As morning turns into afternoon, the job at Bartelses' home is running over time. The slightly built DeCamp is lying underneath the ramp on her back, attaching screws to the inside railing. "Sometimes it's handy being thin," she quips.
Flax volunteers to help Campbell with the screen door, since it's something she says she knows nothing about.
And there are whispers that Campbell, his expertise growing with each project, looks set to soon become a mentor.
A few weeks later, the Bartelses haven't gotten round to finishing off the paint work, and DuWayne, 81, is still in the hospital. But the ramp is being put to use, both to move some old appliances out of the home, and for his wife, Stephanie, also 81, who suffers from degenerative back disease.
Mary is more than impressed with the co-op's work. "Tres, Kate and Rick stayed the whole two days, all day long. They worked so hard, it was just really an act of love that they were so dedicated," she says.
How it works
You can join the Green Retrofit Co-op simply by turning up and putting in hours. Family members and friends can also earn volunteer hours on your behalf.
English wants to encourage young people, too; he's inviting anybody over the age of 14 to take part, although those under 18 should have adult supervision.
For more information, call 795-3413 or visit www.greenretrofitcoop.org
"I believe in the concept of barn-raising. I believe in community support. And of all places this totally sprawling town has got incredible community."
Green Retrofit Co-op volunteer Kate Flax
Contact Gillian Drummond at gcdrummond@aol.com or visit her blog at www.gilliandrummond.net