Lending a hand

Volunteers help to remodel new Caring Hands Outreach Center location in Altoona

By KRISTA KIELSMEIER • kkielsme@dmreg.com • September 15, 2009

The new home for the Caring Hands Outreach Center in Altoona is being rebuilt with caring hands, led by a family of Duers.
The Clothes Hanger and  Food Pantry will be based out of the site of the former Zena’s in Altoona, a gifts and decorative accessories business at 201 Ninth St. N.E.
“We completely gutted the garage and breezeway and took all the siding off of the exterior of the breezeway and garage,” said Michael Bodkins, vicar at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Altoona. “We’re putting new siding on and putting brand new windows throughout the entire structure, and we had to tear out the bathroom on the house side to make it into a handicap-accessible bathroom.”
Caring Hands oversees the food pantry and Central Place Family Resource Center operates the Clothes Hanger, which provides free clothing for families.
Both charitable organizations have been housed in 1,800 square feet at Bobst Construction Services, 1250 Sloans Way in Pleasant Hill, since last summer. Owner Chris Bobst had made some extra space available in his building.
Previously, the Clothes Hanger was located in Olde Town Altoona and the food pantry at Adventure-Life Church.
Beth Davis of Altoona, who retired from Zena’s in 2005, agreed to sell her property to Caring Hands earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development has awarded Caring Hands a $217,595 loan guarantee through the Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program to help purchase the Zena’s building. The program offers grants, loans and loan guarantees in rural areas and towns of up to 20,000 people in population.
“What it means is that the USDA is going to guarantee us a mortgage,” said Rev. Alice Bolen of Runnells Christian Church. “The bank suggested that we go this way as a nonprofit.”
She is the president of the board of directors for Caring Hands, and said the new site will be “a permanent home” in a central location with room for expansion.
Bolen and dozens of other volunteers have contributed a few hours each Saturday to remodeling efforts.
“I am great at removing nails, and last week I learned to drywall,” Bolen said. “I am learning a whole new set of skills, just in case.”
Tom Duer of Runnells has provided his expertise from his years with Duer and Sons Remodeling. His wife, Sally, and sons Kirk, Scott and John have worked on the Altoona project.
Cathy Beck-Cross, director of Central Place, said the Duers run the operation like a Habitat for Humanity project.
“We do other Habitats, but we’ve never done anything here in Des Moines,” Tom Duer said. “Sally is involved in Circles of Support and Caring Hands and such, and I told her that if the opportunity ever came that they got a building of their own, I would certainly be interested in helping coordinate it. From that, the volunteers have just done all the work. It’s been unreal the amount of volunteers we’ve had.”
He’s received donations of materials such as faucets, windows, drywall, decking, doors, siding, and the labor for wiring, plumbing, and heating and cooling.
“Tom has much patience and has shown volunteers - myself included - how to complete construction activities even if they don’t have experience in that area,” Beck-Cross said. “The outpouring of volunteers has been amazing. So far, approximately 60 people have volunteered, and over 700 hours of work have been contributed.”
For more information on volunteering, contact Central Place at (515) 266-6795.
“We are always looking for more volunteers, and they can be skilled or unskilled, as instruction is provided on the spot,” Beck-Cross said. “Prospective volunteers may show up at the site on Saturdays, starting at 8 a.m., for a four-hour morning or afternoon shift.”
The morning of Sept. 12, food pantry director Larry O’Connor hauled dirt in a wheelbarrow.
“This is going to be able to serve the clients a lot better and a lot more conveniently, with a better atmosphere, after it’s done,” O’Connor said. “We’ve come a long ways.”
His wife, Ruth, has made food for the volunteers, who also have benefited from discounts at Pizza Ranch.
That same morning, Sally Duer wore an orange T-shirt that identified her as “IMA DUER.” Her husband was “CAN DUER.”
Sally Duer said her family has been on service trips to Illinois and New Orleans in the past two years.
“I do the bookwork for our company, and our boys roofed their way through college,” she said. “That was kind of a family thing.”
Even her 12-year-old grandson, Adrian, joined the work on Sept. 12.

“I think this is awesome,” Sally Duer said as she installed door locks with Beck-Cross. “So many people in the community have worked together on this.”
Tom Duer said another family brought about 30 people one weekend as part of family reunion activities. He said some volunteers have stayed past 7 p.m. each Saturday, and Duer hopes that work ethic will have much of the building finished by the end of this month.
“No matter what, every job is important,” he said. “Some people come and if they have to sweep the floor or whatever, they think that’s not a very important job, but to come in and work in a clean environment just makes it go so well, so every job is important.”