Students and Staff Serve in Repair Effort

During April, several PUC students and staff joined in a two-week effort to clean and repair the dilapidated homes of elderly and disabled citizens living in nearby Calistoga. Teaming with Rebuilding Calistoga, a volunteer organization under the sponsorship of Calistoga Affordable Housing, Inc., they contributed to the restoration of nearly 50 residences, half of which were mobile homes.

PUC chaplain Roy Ice helped get the college involved and contributed his own efforts to the rebuilding project. “I think that it’s important to show that PUC is a resource to our community, and not the other way around,” Ice says.

The project was conceived by Larry Kromann, a retired school principal and PUC church member, who wanted to find a way to help the elderly. He gathered the help and support of community members for the home repair project, and received the sponsorship of Home Depot, which donated a $5,000 gift card and promised to send out 30 of its employees.

A ceremony was held on April 25 to recognize everybody who volunteered. Calistoga mayor Jack Gingles publicly recognized PUC’s contribution and expressed his gratitude towards the college’s involvement. “I want you to take a message back to PUC and your president that we really appreciate what you guys did,” he announced.

The individual projects took as little as half an hour to complete, and did not require a background in home repair. “It was a small time commitment to change the lives of people that live in our neighborhood,” said Ice, a novice handyman himself. “Christianity is not about knowledge, it’s about action.”