RUSSELLVILLE — Kyle Johnson isn’t able to speak because of his severe cerebral palsy, but a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Pope County said his big smile was thanks enough for the work performed on the 29-year-old’s home.
Volunteers with Habitat for Humanity of Pope and Faulkner counties partnered Sept. 19 for the A Brush With Kindness program to help nine homeowners in one Russellville neighborhood.
Sue Schumacher, vice president of Habitat for Humanity of Pope County’s board of directors, said 91 people signed up to work on the homes, including Johnson’s.
“I blasted social media, and people are just really great,” Schumacher said.
Volunteers came from Arkansas Tech University, churches, businesses and community organizations.
“[Johnson] was just absolutely thrilled that so many people showed up — he was emotional physically,” Schumacher said. “His arms were shaking — just happy. I told him we were going to paint his front ramp and asked him if that would be OK, and he was just overjoyed with that.”
Johnson lives just around the corner from his parents, Lori and Willie Johnson, and his other adopted siblings.
Lori Johnson said Kyle, who has quadriplegia cerebral palsy, was 18 before he walked. He is now in a wheelchair, but he can walk short distances with some assistance.
“He is like the joy of joy,” she said, laughing. “He signs and shakes his head no. He points to things; he talks a lot with his eyes. I understand everything he’s saying.”
One day when he was in his 20s, Lori said, Kyle went to the window of their home and pointed.
“I said, ‘You want to move out?’ He shook his head yes,’” she said. When a home came up for sale nearby, she inquired about a bank loan. “He actually bought it himself, and we’re co-signers,” she said.
During the week, he has a full-time caregiver, provided by a Medicaid waiver, and he comes to his parents’ home on the weekends, she said.
Mary Plummer, his case manager through Bost Inc. in Russellville, said she realized he had only one emergency exit, and that was the front door.
“God forbid something happen and the front door was blocked,” Plummer said. “It was a big drop out the back door.”
Shenel Sandidge, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Faulkner County, said the front of the home had a ramp, but the back door opened to three or four narrow concrete steps.
Lori said that when Plummer pointed out the fire hazard, “We said, ‘Well, we don’t have any extra money to buy a deck, or build a deck or a ramp out there.’ It was a pretty big project.”
Lori said she is “amazed” at the work the volunteers did on her son’s home.
Sandidge said the back door was widened so that Kyle’s wheelchair will fit through it, and volunteers built a ramp and a deck so he can sit outside. The deck still needs to be stained, Sandidge said, but otherwise, the project is finished.
Schumacher said some of the Johnsons’ other children painted the ramp in the front of Kyle’s house.
“It was an amazing sight seeing so many kids in wheelchairs painting,” she said. “It really made me stop and think — everyone has value, and we all have a purpose.”
Sandidge said she was “shocked” at how many disabled people live in that neighborhood and need assistance with their homes.
Schumacher said most of the other homeowners helped by A Brush With Kindness are elderly, including one couple who were both injured in a severe car accident several
years ago.
“They have termites, … so we weren’t able to finish it,” Schumacher said. “We did find somebody to donate extermination, but we’ve got to find somebody to donate siding.”
Sandidge said volunteers cleaned yards and planted flowers at the homes.
“They took trailers of debris and brush and stuff they picked out of people’s yards,” she said.
Sandidge introduced A Brush With Kindness in Faulkner County in 2012, and in Pope County for the first time this month, she said. An Arkansas Tech sorority has offered to partner with Habitat for Humanity of Pope County to participate in ongoing A Brush With Kindness programs, Sandidge said.
The purpose of the national Habitat for Humanity program is to serve a different population by assisting low-income homeowners to maintain the exterior upkeep of their homes, help other local nonprofits and churches with special projects, and recruit additional volunteers for Habitat.
“In this way, we can serve more families,” Sandidge said. Typically, Habitat builds one home every year or two, Sandidge said. Through A Brush With Kindness projects, “we can serve up to 25 families a weekend.”
For more information, contact Habitat for Humanity of Pope County at (479) 280-3728, or in Faulkner County, call (501) 513-3244.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.