A stroke of kindness for Everett woman
Members of two Everett churches team up to paint a neighboring home
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About a dozen people, brushes in hand, turned out to help, and a local paint store donated the paint. "This place hasn't looked this good for years," Gamman said.
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald
Bob Stevenson of Lynnwood helps paint Colleen Gamman's Everett home on Saturday. He was among a group of people from St. Paul United Methodist Church and Milltown Neighborhood Church who volunteered for the project.
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald Danen Barnhart, of Everett, joined with others on Saturday to paint Colleen Gamman's Everett house. After seeing Gamman prepping her house alone all summer, Mike Smith, the pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church, organized a ministry project in which members of his church and members of Milltown Community Church would paint Gamman's house for her. PHOTO SHOT 08282010
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Sarah Weiser / The Herald Beth Formhals, of Lake Stevens, paints the porch banister of Colleen Gamman's Everett house on Saturday. Beth, a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church, joined with others from her church and from Milltown Community Church to paint the house. PHOTO SHOT 08282010
The smallish, century-old home was just around the corner from the Rev. Mike Smith's church, St. Paul United Methodist. So one day early this summer, he stopped by.
"I asked if we could paint her house," said Smith, 68. "At first, she was a little skeptical."
Colleen Gamman, 60, said she almost didn't answer the door when the stranger came knocking. When she did, it was hard for her to register Smith's talk of helping somebody he didn't know.
"Isn't that a sad commentary?" Gamman asked.
Her doubts vanished around 8 a.m. Saturday. That's when a dozen or so people converged on her Wetmore Avenue home. Some came from Smith's Methodist church at Colby Avenue and 20th Street, others from Milltown Neighborhood Church, which meets in the same building.
"It was just a swarm of people painting," she said.
The volunteers brought brushes. Parker Paint on Evergreen Way donated the paint.
The plan was to finish by 5 p.m. Around 2, the crew already was packing up and standing back to admire their handiwork: a fresh shade of mauve applied over most of the house, plus gleaming white trim.
Smith said he was proud not just of the speed, but of the quality. The volunteer group, he noted, included just one professional painter.
"This place hasn't looked this good for years," said Gamman, who has lived there for two decades.
Painting the house wasn't an entirely novel idea. Smith said he helped dozens of similar efforts in the South Sound by volunteering with Paint Tacoma-Pierce Beautiful. That group has been active for 26 summers, organizing volunteer crews to paint the homes of low-income seniors and low-income people with disabilities. This year, they did 88 houses in Pierce County, director Sallie Shawl said.
As Gamman gave Smith a goodbye hug Saturday afternoon, she started to tear up.
"They want nothing in return," she said. "I guess that's why I feel weepy."
Smith said he'd like to get his church out painting again next summer. Gamman, who attends a different church, wants to join in.
"I'll recruit some friends," she said. "It could definitely grow. I do hope this is the start of something regular and something large in our community."
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