National Rebuilding Day: 'It's Kind of Like Winning the Lottery'

Despite being unable to bend over to pull weeds and tend to his crops, Curtis Hanson’s garden still yielded more than 800 tomatoes last year.

Degenerative discs in Hanson’s back severely limited his mobility and the grounds around his Del Ray home did eventually become unwieldy. Hurricane Sandy also ripped off part of his roof, complicating his living situation further.

Ultimately, it became too much for the Chincoteague native to handle.

A neighbor urged Hanson to apply for assistance through Rebuilding Together Alexandria, a nonprofit that brings volunteers and resources together to provide free home repairs and modifications for city residents living near the poverty line.     

“I couldn’t fight that I couldn’t do this work anymore,” said Hanson, who purchased his home in Del Ray in 1983 and plied his trade in Old Town for many years.

On Friday, 34 volunteers from commercial real estate services firm CBRE spent the day at Hanson’s house cleaning his yard, installing new landscaping, painting parts of his house and patching that leaky roof as part of National Rebuilding Day.

All day Saturday, hundreds of volunteers worked to restore and upgrade homes for low-income, disabled and elderly residents throughout the city as part of the initiative.

“It’s kind of like winning the lottery,” Hanson said. “No way did I think they could have done this all in one day—and I watch all those TV shows.”

Volunteers also installed a new raised vegetable garden for Hanson so he can get back to tending a garden, something he has always enjoyed. The raised plant bed was part of a new initiative from Rebuilding Together Alexandria, which has worked on more than 1,600 projects in the city since its inception 26 years ago.

“Watching all these guys work reminds me of the days I did this,” Hanson said.

For the quickest updates, "like" Del Ray Patch on Facebook and follow @delraypatch on Twitter. Interested in getting Del Ray Patch directly into your inbox each morning? Learn more about our daily newsletter.