Habitat for Humanity Riverside volunteers from the Inland Empire showed that giving is definitely a universal language. These volunteers from HFHR Volunteer Up website came to help Margherita, a senior citizen who speaks wonderful Italian but very little English. Margherita’s late husband painted the home many years ago, however, today the home has a dirty, dingy and dull exterior that needed to be refreshed. The shade and wind panels on the drive side also needed a fresh coat of paint. Also several areas of the home had paint peeling which had to be removed properly. This task was completed by Habitat volunteers before this painting crew arrived at Margherita’s home.

On April 4^th, 16 volunteers came out to help Margherita and among them were seasoned volunteers as well as new volunteers. We also had Juan and Racci’s family with friends working off their sweat equity hours towards the Habitat homes, which are scheduled to be built in Riverside and Moreno Valley. The weather was perfect for painting and the heat was nowhere to be found. While the crew was painting, one of the Village Grove Estates Home Owners Association HOA board members came by with a gift of donuts. Habitat for Humanity Riverside has painted in this Corona mobile home park for years and they were glad to see we were helping Margherita. In fact several ladies stopped by to thank all the volunteers for helping Margherita their paison (translation: friend in Italian).

The volunteers finished the exterior walls rather quickly and Racci and Juan took care of the high areas of the home. Everyone worked on the large awning at the front of the home and last areas to be completed were the sheds and drive side trim. One of Margherita’s sons showed up to see how she was doing during the painting and was grateful for the help. Margherita and her son took a group photo and kept saying Grazie! Grazie! Her son translated his mother’s grateful words to the volunteers. She definitely loved her newly painted home!

In the end, language may have been a barrier but love and charity was surely the bridge of communication. Thank you Habitat volunteers for giving Margherita a great reason to smile on this day. Ciao!