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April 17, 2006
Red Cross Heroes of Western Connecticut Award
BRING A SMILE AND A PAINT BRUSH
By Dale Skaggs
Red Cross Disaster Services Volunteer
What can you do with a step-ladder, a paint brush and bucket, an old rag and a smile? You can join Peter Brady and 224 other volunteers who will spend a day working hard, having fun, and feeling good about accomplishing something important. Oh, and by the way, you'll paint a house or two. That is just an outline of Brady's latest project, an effort to recruit 75 people from each of three area churches to paint several low income senior housing buildings in Danbury's Memorial Park neighborhood, as part of the Greater Danbury ShareFest, a mobilization of area churches to help those in need.
Volunteer advocate Peter "Brady shows off his Handy Dandy Handyman tee-shirt worn by hundreds who have helped on the many projects he's initiated.
As the founder and president of the non-profit organization Handy Dandy Handyman, this is exactly the sort of project Brady knows well. Organizing 224 volunteers to paint several structures for senior citizens, or even more volunteers to paint the outside of a church, is not unusual for this retired Director of Purchasing for Nestle USA, who was inspired by a 1999 homily at his parish church to dedicate the skills developed over a 38 year career to serving the needy in his community. When he heard that call back in 1999, he was still working for Nestle USA, so the first year was• one of small jobs, like raking leaves, done on weekends for just a couple of clients, by only ten volunteers, five of whom were Brady, his wife Carol Ann, and their three daughters. Retirement, in February of 2000, greatly expanded the time available to clean basements, attics and yards, do odd jobs and make minor home repairs for the elderly, single moms, unemployed, disabled or bereaved, anyone who needed that kind of help. Begun as a ministry grounded in the spiritual and financial support of Brookfield's Saint Joseph Parish, in just over three years the operation had grown so much that it was established as a separate non-profit company. Today the organization's volunteer base is over 900 and the number of clients' served is over 250. Last November's Rake-N-Bake, an annual leaf cleanup event, saw over 800 volunteers rake leaves for 56 homeowners unable to handle the task themselves.
Asked if he was always a handyman, Brady smiles and says, "Not really, I was one of seven children, so we had to help out, but I didn't really have lots of those kinds of skills. I just knew I wanted to use what I did have, good health, financial stability, and skills in communications, organization and motivation, to help those who needed it." So how did a resolution to rake some leaves and clean out a garage for some neighbors in need turn into an organization with 900 volunteers serving hundreds of clients every year? According to Brady, it's important that the work requirements are clearly organized and communicated and that the volunteers get positive feedback about how their efforts helped. As a result, the volunteers have fun because it feels good to help others. "We work hard," he says, "But we always laugh and have a good time too." Then he grinned and revealed another motivational secret: "I also give away a red Handy Dandy Handyman sweatshirt every year to our 'Most Valuable Volunteer' and people really want to win that sweatshirt!"
Brady's volunteer work at the Dorothy Day homeless shelter gave rise to another facet of the Handy Dandy Handyman operation. The shelter needed a couple of recliner chairs for volunteer staff, so he found someone with used chairs and arranged for their donation to the shelter. "That experience," he said, "made me wonder if there might' be a way to match up people who have stuff they don't need, with people who need it." Thus was born 'Pete's Repeats', a feature on Brady's website which posts items available from donors, as well as specific items needed by clients.
Peter Brady retired at the age of 58, and has since found countless ways to keep busy doing work that is very important, not only to his clients, but to his fellow volunteers and to the entire community.
(Handy Dandy Handyman is on the web at http://www.hdhm.org. Email Peter Brady at peterbrady@hdhm.org. The Greater Danbury ShareFest is scheduled for May 6 and 7, 2006.)
Posted by hdhm at April 17, 2006 09:31 AM