By Steve Martarano

Jeffery Walton points to the newly replaced roof at his 37th Street Oak Park home and then praises the dozen volunteers with Rock the Block working in his backyard building a fence.

“It’s a blessing,” Walton says, referring to the work done on his house over the past week which included replacing the roof, installing a new sewer system and replacing a fence damaged in recent storms, work that he estimated would have cost him around $50,000. A new solar system is planned as well. “I was going to have to use all my retirement just to fix this.”

Walton’s wife, Iris, who is disabled, grew up in the house, he said, and she has lived there on and off since she was six. The home was one of 15 homes — 20 total project sites — in Oak Park repaired by 400 community volunteers during the seventh annual Rock the Block event May 3-4, hosted by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento.

“This is one of my favorite things that we do all year long,” Leah Miller, Habitat for Humanity Greater Sacramento president and CEO, said in welcoming remarks on May 3. She said that during the past seven years, over 4,000 volunteers have put in more than 25,000 volunteer hours — 3,000 hours this year alone — totaling around $3 million on home repairs for the underserved Oak Park community

Each day’s volunteers, wearing neon yellow Rock the Block shirts, gathered at St. Paul Catholic Church on 14th Avenue and received their assignments before dispersing to their job sites for the day, working up until almost 4 p.m. Work included landscaping, roof replacement, yard cleanup, external painting, gutter cleaning and pest abatement, and continued through the rain on May 4. 

This year’s presenting sponsor was the City of Sacramento, along with SMUD, Sacramento Impact Partners, the Sacramento Promise Zone, and another 30 sponsors and community partners. Together, according to Habitat for Humanity, total contributions exceeded $400,000, supporting this year’s initiative aimed at serving low-income families and seniors in the Oak Park neighborhood.

Meanwhile, applications are being accepted until June 3 for West Sacramento’s version of Rock the Block, scheduled for October 11-12 in the Bryte/Broderick communities.