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Handy Heroes Help Veteran, Wife

Tribune photo by Jim Reed

Harold Hatten watches volunteers working on his home for National Rebuilding Day and the Heroes at Home Program with his wife Isabelle. The program provided for a makeover for the Pinellas Park home of the World War II veteran and his wife.

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By STEVE KORNACKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 27, 2008

Updated: 04/27/2008 12:15 am

PINELLAS PARK - Isabelle Hatten kept turning the lever of her front door, taking joy in how much easier it was than the old knob that was a chore to open and close. She has rheumatoid arthritis in her hands.

Hatten, 78, thanked the volunteers from the Heroes at Home Program who fixed the lever and plenty more Saturday morning at the three-bedroom home where she has lived since 1969 with her husband of 59 years, Harold, a Navy World War II veteran.

"Oh, my goodness, yes, it's going to be so much easier for me in the house with all the new levers they put in and the grab bars in the bathrooms," Hatten said. "I'm just so excited about this."

Twenty-seven volunteers pitched in at her home Saturday, dubbed National Rebuilding Day. The program is a joint effort of Sears Holdings and Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay, a nonprofit organization. Seminole contractor Susanne Van Selow coordinated the effort, which included plumbing, painting and landscaping work.

Heroes at Home is one of several programs under the umbrella of Rebuilding Together, which began in 1988 in Texas then moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. It started with neighbors helping neighbors fix their homes in low-income housing areas, and has grown to revamp more than 100,000 homes nationwide. Future rebuilding projects are scheduled for June and September.

In all, 600 volunteers for Rebuilding Together worked Saturday on six Tampa and three Pinellas County houses. Most materials were donated by Sears and others. Recipients are typically the elderly, the disabled, veterans or low-income families with children.

Harold Hatten, 83, credited Fred Graves, vice commander of AMVETS Post 698 in Pinellas Park, for getting them connected to the program that on Saturday spruced up another Pinellas Park house and two in St. Petersburg with other volunteers. Volunteers from AMVETS Post 4 in Tampa worked on homes in Hillsborough County.

"Harold is the oldest member of our chapter and his grandson Marine Cpl. Brodey Vann is our youngest member," Graves said.

"They approached me twice before I said all right because I believe you don't get nothing for nothing," Harold Hatten said. "But they wanted to do it because of her hands, and so I said OK. Look at her hands."

His wife's hands point inward. And while she has problems gripping, she was eager to shake the hands of all those who helped.

"They did tremendous!" Isabelle Hatten said.

Volunteers planted flowers and spread red mulch at the Hatten house, while others painted a fluorescent orange wall on the north side of the house a more conventional white. Bathroom tile was grouted and caulked, and cabinet and drawer knobs were replaced with easier-to-use handles. The work and materials were provided free of charge.

Wally Van Selow, father of the contractor, was among the volunteers. He served on the USS Saratoga just like Hatten, though it was actually a different vessel. The Saratoga that Hatten sailed on was destroyed in 1946 during atomic bomb testing, and Van Selow served on a new aircraft carrier of the same name.

They talked baseball, and Hatten told Van Selow that his brother, Joe Hatten, was the starting pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers for Jackie Robinson's first game on April 15, 1947.

"Joe even got a base hit that day," Hatten said. "But Jackie didn't."

Ed Garland, owner of Agape Tile Works in Largo, passed them on the way to his van and shook hands. Garland installed the grab bars in addition to doing grouting and caulking in the bathrooms.

"That was rewarding," Garland said moments later. "There are not the same rewards in money jobs."

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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