SEATTLE -- Thirty volunteers from three different organizations came together on Thursday to help out a North Seattle woman in need. Juanita Aemmer is 92 years old and is a widow to a World War II Veteran. Her husband Harold died in 2011 at 95 years old, but before his death he prided himself in taking care of his lawn and home. Due to her age, since her husband’s passing, it has been difficult for Juanita to maintain the home like she should so she was relieved when nearly three dozen people showed up to help her out.
“There’s a lot of work to do, but it’s really fulfilling to be here,” Aaron Adelstein said.
Adelstein is with the Master Builders Association, one of the three organizations donating their resources and time. The other two groups are Rebuilding Together Seattle and Green Canopy Homes.
“No one else does the work we do, the way we do it. Free home repairs for low income homeowners,” Rebuilding Together Executive Director Nicole Ferrer said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to address social issues and sometimes it takes formal dollars, and formal agency work, and sometimes it just takes a community to come together.”
Ferrer said their plan was to work in the bathroom and kitchen, and re-paint the walls in the living room. They also completed a significant amount of landscaping work.
“I’m so pleased and so happy that anybody would come and do the work like they’re doing,” Juanita Aemmer said. “I couldn’t leave the house the way it was and now I feel much better that the work is being done while I’m still here.”
Aemmer has raised her family in the home and has lived there for the past 72 years. She now lives there with her granddaughter and great granddaughter.
“This really gives me hope,” Juanita’s granddaughter Danielle Amport said. “And it gives me hope for my kids that there really is community and there is love in the world for people that you don’t even know.”
“I appreciate every inch of work that they do,” Juanita said with a smile.
