MARK WAITE / PVT Joel McMillin spray-paints the home of Charlene Brannon while Rick Remington looks on, ready to help with the equipment. Advertisement

Widow Charlene Brannon got a pleasant surprise when she woke up on a recent Saturday morning.

A group of smiling men were setting up to hammer a new deck onto her front porch, free of charge.

Fourteen volunteers, mostly from the Nevada Test Site, fixed up two homes this year as part of the Rebuilding Together program, formerly known as Christmas in April.

The carpenters, painters, electricians, roofers and others are all certified tradesmen who are spending at least three weekends on the project.

"I lost my husband in 1996, about a year after we moved here," Brannon said. "Well, being on a limited income and disabled, it helps me out a great deal because they're painting the house. It hasn't been painted or real woodwork done on it since it was put here 14 years ago."

Back and neck surgery, combined with a battle with diabetes, has made it difficult for her to carry groceries up the old front porch, she said. So they're rebuilding a front and back porch, part of the list of requested items she presented to the Rebuilding Together committee.

ABB Roofing was scheduled to tear off her old roof and install a new one this week. Volunteers even took care of the yard work.

Brannon found out about Rebuilding Together through a full page ad in the Nifty Nickel back in March. She picked up an application at Galliano's Restaurant. Brannon was soon contacted by Rick Remington, a member-at-large of Rebuilding Together, who took photos of her home for presentation to the screening committee.

"I didn't hear for a long time and I thought, 'Well I guess I didn't get it.' Then one day Rick called me and they came by to see what I needed, and then I heard someone say they'd fix my house, which made me very, very happy because different things are kind of falling apart. When you're alone, you can't keep up things," Brannon said.

Rebuilding Together Secretary-Treasurer Susan Gray said the group received over 40 applications for the program last year. This year they didn't even have a half-dozen, she said.

The applications are normally accepted from December through February. This year the application period was extended into March due to the lack of applicants.

Last year volunteers fixed up five homes, though Gray said they may have overextended themselves.

"We're a national affiliate, and the national organization thought that Rebuilding Together was a better name of what we do. The Christmas in April threw people off because each affiliate did it a different time. Like we're doing it in May," Gray said.

Besides ABB Roofing, which is rebuilding the roof at cost, other corporate sponsors included Home Depot, which chipped in $2,500 for parts and materials, and the United Way. NSTec, the contractor at the Nevada Test Site, gave $2,000 and even Papa John's Pizza contributed with discounted pizzas for the crews.

"We want them to take pride in their homes, and we're here to help them do that," Gray said. "As we get older, we get infirmities. When we see people in need, that's our biggest criteria.

"But there are only two real criteria, that is they must be homeowners and they must be U.S. citizens. Then there's our subjective criteria, their need. Do they have physical needs, like Charlene needed the ramp."

Besides Brannon's home, on the west side of Pahrump near Charleston Park Avenue and Murphy Street, volunteers also fixed up a home for a woman living on Soplo Avenue. That home needed minor house fixes: a new faucet, fixing a door bell, putting in a new porch light, some caulking, shutters and yard work.

Brannon said she was skeptical about repairmen after previously getting ripped off by a landscaper. She said her children want her to move to California but she enjoys life here in Pahrump.

Her neighbors are interested but it's too late for this year.

"I will also help get the word out so people will apply in time next year because I think this is great," she said.