HomeFront Inc. in Stamford has been partnering with corporations large and small for nearly three decades to provide free home repairs for low-income homeowners and community organizations in need. This year the nonprofit reached a new milestone with more than 2,900 completed projects, which have had an economic impact of more than $50 million, according to HomeFront officials.
“We are trying to keep existing homeowners with limited finances living either paycheck to paycheck or on Social Security in their homes,” said Sean C. O”™Brien, HomeFront”™s executive director.
Half of the 800 requests for help the organizations receives every year are from elderly Fairfield County residents living on fixed incomes or people challenged by disabilities.
For 29 years, the agency has held an annual HomeFront Day in addition to single work days spread throughout the spring and summer. HomeFront Day alone draws approximately 60 to 70 corporate teams ranging in size from a few to several dozen people working on individual projects throughout the county.
“I think most people would be surprised at the depth and the substance of the work that we do,” O”™Brien said.
From cleaning gutters and painting to electrical, plumbing and masonry work, projects typically require $7,000 in sponsorship from participating companies. With savings from volunteer labor and donated materials, the actual value of the projects is more than double the sponsorship cost, O”™Brien said.
The organization’s long-time corporate partners include two of Fairfield’s business titans, General Electric and Deloitte, both of which have contributed large volunteer teams of employees for more than 20 years.
James Wenning, senior vice president with GE Capital Aviation Services, has led volunteer teams and coordinated GE”™s participation in the program for nearly all of the company’s history with HomeFront. For Wenning, giving back to the community has been a reward in itself.
“I have had such a positive response from many of the homeowners that have gotten the benefit of the services and improvement we provide,” he said. “I have several homeowners who send me a holiday card year in and year out, it is like an extended family. Knowing they appreciate it to the point to give a thank-you card every year tells me we really made a difference.”
Wenning, who serves on HomeFront’s board of directors, said about 75 percent of the company’s regular volunteers have been lost with the downsizing of GE Capital.
In the fallout from the financial crisis and recession several years ago, O”™Brien and members of HomeFront’s  staff of five went without pay for several months, Wenning said, as the volunteer program became a nonprofit entity after losing the support of AmeriCares. An international disaster relief and health organization headquartered in Stamford, AmeriCares originally developed and supported the home repairs program but effectively terminated it in 2009, he said.
“Those guys really sacrificed a lot to keep this up and running,” Wenning said of O’Brien and his staff.
Since venturing on its own as a nonprofit agency in 2010, HomeFront has attracted new corporate partners including Charter Communications in Stamford, which joined the HomeFront volunteer effort for the first time this year, and lesser-known employers such as Foundation Source in Fairfield, a financial consulting firm for private foundations.
In May, that 80-employee company sent a team of 12 volunteers to work for two days on a private Bridgeport home, from landscaping to masonry repairs. “It took just a few hours to make a huge difference for somebody else” said Julia DeMeo, a private client adviser with Foundation Source.
Beyond the personal satisfaction DeMeo and her coworkers felt from helping people in need, the project was also a great team-building experience for employees who have little interaction with each other in their day-to-day work lives, she said.
O”™Brien said that latter benefit keeps many companies coming back to HomeFront.
A native of Norwalk, O’Brien has worked with the organization for 18 years.
“I grew up in a decent house where I didn’t have to worry about the roof leaking over my bed or drafty windows,” he said. “I guess I just wanted to be involved with an outfit where we make that possible because it was really just a matter of luck that I grew up where I did.”
Having  worked for a health care research and consulting firm in Washington D.C., O”™Brien left the health care industry to pursue a passion for community service and a dedication to the region he grew up in.
“I always did volunteer work even when I was in the corporate world,” he said. “I just found myself drawn to the idea of making it the centerpiece of my life as opposed to a hobby. Fairfield County has a lot of prosperity, but it is also a really tough place if you have a setback. I got bitten by the idea that if we can’t get it right in Fairfield County, where there is so much prosperity so close to people who need a helping hand, where can we.”
