By Douglas Wright

dwright@keepmecurrent.com

Tammy Steeves welled up with tears of joy last Friday as a crew of volunteers went to work fixing up her home on Albion Road in Windham.

Brought together by the Portland Board of Realtors for their annual Fix-A-Home project, volunteers cleaned the house inside and out, mowed the yard, planted a stone garden, and built Steeves an eight-by-eight wooden deck in the backyard and a ramp leading up to her front doorstep.

“This is unbelievable,” Steeves said. “I never thought this would ever happen. I just figured this house would fall apart because I have a hard time getting around.”

Coping with a prosthetic leg, Steeves in the past has had trouble just getting in and out of her house, let alone keeping it in shape. Sixteen years ago, Steeves lost her leg in a motorcycle accident from which she suffered serious physical and mental trauma.

“I had to learn again how to walk, talk, and read,” Steeves said. “I forgot everything.”

Since the accident, Steeves has learned to carry on. Despite her circumstances, she has even raised two children as a single mother. But it has taken her “every breath” to keep the house, Steeves said.

Thanks to many volunteers, donors and the Portland Board of Realtors, Steeves will no longer have to worry about tripping up stairs while bringing groceries home from the store or her kids getting hurt while playing in the once cluttered yard.

For many years now, the Portland Board of Realtors has sponsored the yearly Fix-A-Home project. Each year, they seek out one family or individual most in need of a house improvement and gather a work force to spend a day fixing up their residence.

“We are in the business of neighborhoods,” said Kelley Craig, executive officer of the Board of Realtors. “People come out here to sweat and get blisters.”

Many of those who worked in and around the house were Realtors and loan officers, Craig said. Habitat for Humanity volunteers also came to help alongside professional construction contractors from Maine Properties to clean the yard and build the deck and ramp.

Businesses like Home Depot, Hancock Lumber, and Hillside Lumber all donated wood to the cause; other businesses like Stories Garden Center gave flowers for a new garden. And Personal Touch Catering of Buxton served lunch to the volunteers as they have done for many years.

Travis Blake of Maine Properties – who steadied boards, cut wood and engineered a front door ramp – said he had no problem getting support from the local business community.

“They’re vendors I work with everyday and they were all eager to give donations,” Blake said. “It feels good to help someone who needs it.”

Steve Bolton, executive director of Habitat for Humanity, hammered nails for this year’s Fix-A-Home on site. He called the project a “phenomenal effort” on the part of the Board of Realtors.

“This is a house that’s been in need,” Bolton said. “Certainly we don’t want anyone to have to live in substandard housing. (Habitat for Humanity’s) goal is to eliminate substandard housing.”

Judy Hutzler, chairwoman of the Fix-A-Home committee and loan officer at First Horizon Home Loan Corp. of South Portland, said this had been one of the best years for Fix-A-Home because of an outpouring of volunteers and what those volunteers have been able to accomplish.

And in gratitude, Steeves herself couldn’t help but hug many of the volunteers for their generosity.

But the Steeves home is not complete. Vinyl Pros in Windham is collecting donations to repair the roof of Steeve’s house. To lend a hand, contact Vinyl Pros at 892-8072.

Tammy Steeves stands before her home in Windham with Judy Hutzler of First Horizon Home Loan Corp. In the background, volunteers work to fix up her house as part of the Portland Board of Realtors’ yearly Fix-A-Home project.