On July 12th, Habitat for Humanity Riverside expanded its A Brush with Kindness program to another mobile home park in Jurupa Valley. Jurupa Hills mobile home park. A Hometown America Community. With the help of park management, we were able to identify residents who needed help with the upkeep of their homes but are unable to due to lack of income or physically unable. Teresita, a very spry and grateful senior is the first homeowner to receive help on painting her faded green mobile home.

Joining us for the first time are employees from Bericap, a company locally based in Ontario. Maria, a Habitat homeowner finishing up the last remaining hours of her sweat equity and Tatiana, an incoming AmeriCorps team member joined in on the fun with the Bericap employees early Saturday morning to help paint Teresita’s home. 

To beat the summer heat, a game plan was laid out after the safety briefing and volunteers were split in two groups. The volunteers always bring such a warm atmosphere to these projects with bright smiles and friendly attitudes, and this day was no different. The Bericap Company employees Connie Davis and Judy Nason shared their reason for volunteering on the paint day. Davis answered, “The company I work for, Bericap, was looking for community service opportunities and I was placed in charge of finding them; and when I came across Habitat, I felt that it was a great organization to work with.” Nason added, “I think it’s great what Habitat is doing for its surrounding communities. I live right up the hill so

I’m happy to see you guys working in the area.”

As the day went on, the house was coming out beautifully. The volunteers worked as a unit and tackled each side of the home meticulously and didn’t move on to the next wall without a quality control check by one of their own. Bericap produces thousands of caps every day and that quality of production was evident on Teresita’s freshly painted home. Within just a few hours, the volunteers had already begun filling in light spots, detailing borders, and painting around windows. Once they knocked these tasks out, all that was left was the shaded trim area. They were very eager and quick in completing this area, and it took just minutes to finish. After a brief water break, everyone gathered for a group photo. With huge smiles on every face, the photo was taken and Teresita was presented with her freshly painted home.

Teresita showed extreme gratitude to all of the volunteers. She even offered to make everyone her famous egg rolls in appreciation. Neighbors were also amazed at how quickly the house was completed, but more so at how nicely it came out; and with several handshakes, thank-yous and goodbyes, Teresita walked proudly into her home.

Great job Bericap! We are glad to have you as a new partner and can’t wait to work with all of you again on the next project.