BonnerSprings.com

A Bonner Springs senior citizen whose health prevented her from taking care of the out-of-control vegetation around her house received an early Christmas present from Bonner Springs Rotary members.

On Saturday, 10 Rotary volunteers showed up to help trim the weeds and vines that had taken over the sides and roof of the woman’s house in the 100 block of Spring Avenue.

The vegetation was so thick it had begun laying roots inside the house and on the roof.

The work was the club’s participation in Christmas in October, a Kansas City, Mo.,-based program that connects people who are unable physically or financially to repair their houses with volunteers and materials.

“There was a lot of work,” said Judy Cox, one of the Rotary volunteers and chair of the club’s Christmas in October project this year. “It had basically gotten ahead of her.”

Dwain Dewey, another volunteer, said the weeds and vines had gotten to the point that the property was in violation of city codes, “and so our main function was to go over there and remove all those things.”

One thing led to another in the course of the volunteers’ work, “and that started exposing more things that needed work on the house,” Dewey said.

The volunteers uncovered the decrepitude of the house and the question of whether it was worth trying to save at all.

“We don’t rebuild houses,” Dewey said. “We don’t do trade-type stuff, but we made a big difference … there’s some we could do, but we’re not sure at this point what the next work to do on that house would be.”

Dewey said the house was going to be assessed to see whether it could be salvaged. The homeowner, who declined to comment for this story, was hoping to get a reverse mortgage on it, Dewey said.

In the course of their work, volunteers filled two pickup truck beds with weeds, small trees and vines, and another load was left to be hauled Sunday.

The Rotary volunteers have two more houses they’ll be working on in the next couple of Saturdays, with one in Edwardsville needing pipe work on the furnace and water heater, and drying out the basement and another in Bonner Springs.

The group is set for volunteers and supplies, but donations of money and materials may be arranged by calling (816) 531-6443 or visiting the organization’s Web site at christmasinoctober.org/donations.asp.

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