Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver PostThornton Mayor Pro-Tem Mack Goodman with Susanna Sotelo and Mary Ann Shing, president of Brothers Redevelopment, Inc.
The monsoon rains that fell this summer caused flooding in the basement of the circa-1942 home that my husband, three dogs and I share. The water didn’t just damage the carpeted floors, it caused black mold to form. So we hired a company that specializes in black mold abatement. About 15 minutes into the job, the crew discovers that the carpet had been laid over asbestos tile. Long story short: It’s going to cost $9,698 to get everything taken care of.
As that crew is finishing up, the supervisor points out that unless we install a French drain and make some changes in the elevation of our driveway, any future storms are likely to cause a repeat of the flooding. So we get three companies who specialize in this kind of work to come in and give us an idea of what that will cost. Each bid was in the $8,000 range, so we hire the company whose reps had impressed us the most. That job wrapped up this past Friday.
Yet before life at Chez Davidson can return to normal, the flooring in the basement needs to be replaced. We’ll get an idea of what that’s going to cost when the first of the contenders for that job come by this week.
The point I’m trying to make here is that home ownership comes with a lot of surprises. My husband and I are fortunate in that we had the money to pay for all of this; still, it depleted an account we hadn’t planned to touch until we absolutely needed it much later in life.
But for every one of us who can scrape that kind of money together, there’s an awful lot more who can’t.
And that’s where Brothers Redevelopment, Inc. comes in. For 40 years, the Denver-based nonprofit has helped low-income residents — many of whom are elderly and/or disabled — with issues that enable them to live more comfortably in homes that need something as simple as a yard cleanup or as expensive as new plumbing or a coat of paint.
The milestone anniversary was celebrated when BRI hosted Opening Doors, an awards dinner with comedy by Josh Blue, at the Denver Merchandise Mart. KOSI morning show hosts Murphy Huston and Denise Plante were the emcees; FirstBank and Pillar Property Services were the Key Sponsors.
Brothers Redevelopment was established in 1971 by Richard Magnus, Joe Giron, Don Schierling and the late Manny Martinez. It was a grassroots effort back then, with a handful of staff, board members and volunteers reaching out into the Latino neighborhoods of southwest Denver to identify and fulfill basic housing needs.
Since then, BRI has expanded to include property management, mortgage counseling and management of the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline. One of BRI’s most visible services is the annual Paint-A-Thon that involves thousands of volunteers mobilizing to paint homes belonging to low-income seniors across Colorado.
BRI, whose president, Mary Ann Shing, has been with the agency for 33 of its 40 years, serves about 4,000 clients annually, for a cumulative total of 83,000.
Engineer Anthony Black is chairman of the BRI board; Tuukka Hess, an associate at Holland & Hart, is the chair-elect.
The President’s Housing Preservation Award was presented to the Mennonite Housing Development corp., which in 2010 donated $917,000 to BRI for the purchase of the 81-unit William Tell apartment complex in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood. Its residents are low-income, disabled and elderly.
Sue Corbett, director of the Brighton Senior Center, was named Local Government Champion for her continuing work with Brighton Help for Homes, an effort that annually serves up to 24 low-income senior and disabled homeowners.
The City of Thornton received recognition as Outstanding Local Government Partner. Since 2002, BRI has been a partner in Thornton’s Help for Homes Program, providing all manner of repair from water and furnace replacement to the installation of grab bars in bathtubs and showers.
The Volunteer Vanguard Award went to PCL Construction, for its 10-plus years of service to BRI. PCL employees volunteer with the Paint-A-Thon; they’ve also provided services ranging from fence-building and gutter repair to tree-trimming and large item haul-aways.
Colorado Attorney John Suthers was given the Homeownership Preservation Award for his extraordinary efforts in alerting consumers about the dangers and prevalence of loan modification and other mortgage-related scams. A court settlement relating to this resulted in substantial funding for the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline and its affiliated agencies.
The Daniels Fund was named Outstanding Foundation Partnership for the funding it has provided for BRI’s in-home safety and mobility efforts that help seniors avoid injury, thus enhancing their quality of life and the ability to remain in their own homes longer.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was among those there to help BRI celebrate, joining a crowd that also included regional HUD administrator Rick Garcia; former Denver City Councilman Doug Linkhart; Bill and Natalie Funk; Rodger Hara; and Patricia Baca, chairwoman of the Colorado Trust board.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com and @GetItWrite
