Donated Siding Helps Barre Woman Live at Home

At age 70, there was nothing Mary (not her real name, by request) wanted more, than to stay in her lifelong home in Central Vermont. She had grown up in the house with her grandparents and raised her own children there as well. But after her husband died in the 1990's, she lost the means to keep the place up. Eventually, the bathtub conked out, the wind blew through the walls, and the kitchen was ready to drop into the cellar. Then Mary took a spill on the ice a few years ago and received a cancer diagnosis to boot. After successful treatment in Burlington, including a lengthy nursing home stay, she was ready to go home. But no health care professional in his or her right mind would allow her to return to such dilapidated living conditions.

Through a referral from the Central Vermont Council on Aging, ReCycle North became aware of the situation and donated all sorts of building materials, including plywood and lumber, kitchen counters and cabinets, and 2,500 square feet of vinyl siding that had been harvested by ReCycle North’s Deconstruction Service. With volunteer labor and other community resources, the house has been renovated to a minimum standard.

The home is still Spartan by any measure, but the repairs have allowed Mary to return home and have spurred other positive changes in her life. She has linked up to senior services in the community to engage in more local activities.

ReCycle North’s ability to reclaim building materials and make them available for a second use gives them, and the people who benefit from them, a new opportunity.