Friday, October 25, 2002

The Caulk of the Town

Fall is a great season for ambivalence: denial and hope, delay and action. Quite apart from elections, there’s also the weather to deal with. Despite a nip in the air, I refuse to don my winter coat just yet - as the temperature dips, I add another sweater, deferring the inevitable. I haven’t uprooted the tomato vines yet, hoping the last hard green fruits will catch enough rays to ripen before the frosts. I enjoy this teasing, losing game of trying to stave off the inevitable, the approach of winter.

And Fall has its other pleasures, too. One of my great pleasures in Fall is lolling in bed late on Saturday mornings, snuggled in flannel sheets listening to the radio. So it was a bit of a shock to find myself at 8 am last Saturday, dressed, vertical and wide-awake in a church basement, with a styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand, and a garbage bag of insulation materials in the other.

Broadway Parish United Methodist Church was the headquarters for a grass-roots community project in South Bend. The project was sparked by discussions at Step Ahead Council in St Joe County, about the difficulty faced by local families who can’t afford their winter heating bills, especially after the spike in fuel prices a couple of winters ago. An Energy Task Force came together and pursued several ideas, including the idea of helping people insulate their homes. Thus was born the project punningly dubbed, “The Caulk of the Town.”

Which is how I came to be standing in the church basement, at such an unnatural hour, sporting a jaunty baseball cap with a picture of a caulking gun on it. The operation was planned with military precision. Volunteers were teamed up, with at least one skilled worker per team, thanks to local union volunteers. I’m dispatched with a couple of guys, and as we follow directions to our assignment, we start to get acquainted. Dave is an electrician and Luke has recently graduated from college.

At our destination, the householder greets us and shows us what she wants done. We set out our supplies: There are caulking guns and caulk and box cutters and rags and insulating strip and door sweeps. And there are rolls of window film and hairdryers and extension cords. I am dazzled by the array of plenty tumbled on the porch: Lowe’s and Big C Lumber each made very generous donations of materials and expertise for the project.

Next, we figure out a plan of attack. There isn’t too much caulking to be done, and Dave gives me a quick demo with the caulking gun. It doesn’t look too hard and I set to with feckless enthusiasm. It isn’t hard, just really, really sticky, and my hands are soon piebald with caulk and grime. Dave takes a drag at his cigarette, gives me some pointers, and moves efficiently on to the next window frame.

By around noon, we are back at Broadway Parish, some of us - meaning me - are more disheveled than others. Altogether, 15 homes have been weatherised by volunteer teams, and another 4 households have the supplies they need to do the work themselves. Fifty volunteers from all over the community have participated in the project, with support from local business, labour, schools, United Way and other groups. I had a satisfying morning in the company of some fine folks. And, though I won’t be giving up my day job at IUSB any time soon, I can now caulk with the best of them.

Kudos to the donors and volunteers, and to Mike, Janet, Kirby, Dave and the Step Ahead Energy Task Force for catalysing this effort. Next year, “The Caulk of the Town II” will be even bigger and better.

For Michiana Chronicles, keeping warm, this is Louise Collins.

Broadcast by Louise Collins on October 25, 2002
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