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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Forced into homelessness, Gainesville woman regains normalcy

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-efdff2b6-ba1d-9ecf-73bc-f661e527b05f"><span>Trina Hernandez’s home during the renovation on Monday. Rebuilding Together spent about $30,000 on construction.</span></span></p>

Trina Hernandez’s home during the renovation on Monday. Rebuilding Together spent about $30,000 on construction.

“The porta-potty was my birthday present,” Trina Hernandez said, barely containing her giddiness.

The 60-year-old Gainesville resident wasn’t used to having running water. To flush her old toilet, the long-haired, quick-talking brunette would fill up a bucket and pour it down her bowl.

A few years ago, she was forced into homelessness after conditions at her house became too expensive to fix: Her floor consisted of a concrete foundation. Rust had worn away her bathtub. Wires hung from a hole in her wall.

She was forced to leave her home for a shelter.

But in October, volunteers with Rebuilding Together North Central Florida, a nonprofit that renovates unsafe housing, began construction at the home in the 1000 block of NW 55th St.

The organization’s executive director, R.D. Bonner, said he remembered Hernandez’s enthusiasm at the sight of the porta-potty, which would soon be replaced by a functional toilet.

“When we first met Trina, she was filling a bucket outside, carrying it inside and using it to flush the toilet,” he said. “She was so excited when we brought in the porta-potty — imagine when we made her actual toilet functional.”

Last week, Hernandez and her dog, Puppy, moved back into the home. By next month, the renovations will be complete.

Thomas Eckenrode, the project coordinator for Rebuilding Together, said he saw the hazards during inspections of Hernandez’s home.

“The electrical panel hadn’t been updated in probably half a century,” he said. “There was exposed wire everywhere.”

Hernandez said she moved from her home to Grace Marketplace, a homeless shelter in Gainesville, a few years ago because she couldn’t afford the cost of renovations. But she was ready to go home.

Over the summer, Hernandez decided to apply to Rebuilding Together.

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Alachua County Community Support Services referred Hernandez to the program and she fit the qualifications to become a client, Bonner said. In January alone, 96 people have applied to Rebuilding Together. He predicts 20 to 25 of those homes will get help from the program next year.

Due to shortages in funding and volunteers, Rebuilding Together can’t help every person that applies, he said.

Bonner estimates Rebuilding Together received $30,000 for the project. He said half of the funding came from a county program that improves housing called SHIP, State Housing Initiative Partnership, and the other half was donated by Lowe’s and Wells Fargo.

Before volunteers could start renovating the home, R. Leon Electric Inc and J.W. Freeman Plumbing, LLC won competitive bids to resolve the dangerous electrical and plumbing issues, Eckenrode said. Then, volunteers helped repaint and install new flooring, kitchen cabinets and a toilet.

“Everything had to be redone except the roof,” he said.

He said Hernandez participated in the volunteer days and tried to be part of the renovation process.

“She’s very understanding and so positive,” Eckenrode said.

Eckenrode, who organized the project’s volunteer days, estimates 85 to 90 volunteers participated. He said groups from Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Rebuilding Together’s board of directors, Wells Fargo and UF’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers volunteered.

Nicole Bohaczyk, vice president of the UF group, helped by painting the outside of the house, adding drywall in the kitchen and laying down flooring in one of the bedrooms.

She said the other students from the group loved working alongside Hernandez.

“I think everyone really enjoyed talking to her,” she said. “She kept telling us to take breaks.”

Hernandez said she plans to volunteer with Rebuilding Together once her home is complete.

“I can’t wait until I can go and give back at another house,” she said.

Hernandez said she appreciated the help from volunteers that worked on her home.

“Everyone has just been wonderful and understanding,” she said. “I’m blessed there are truly angels that walk on Earth.”

@merylkornfield

mkornfield@alligator.org

Trina Hernandez’s home during the renovation on Monday. Rebuilding Together spent about $30,000 on construction.

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