By Matt Golec

5/20/25

Thetford, VT—Les Lee built his Thetford house back in 1972. Since then, he’s accumulated a lot of good memories — family, friends, pets, and the peace that comes with a remote, dirt-road address. He’s worked as a music teacher, a line cook, and a postal employee.

But Lee has accumulated some other, less welcome things over the years. The 75-year-old has mobility issues, which has contributed to a backlog of home repair projects. His roof and siding are shot. His oil tank is red-tagged, meaning he can’t get oil deliveries to heat his home in the winter. Until recently, his back deck was falling off the house and his basement had such a terrible mold problem that Lee wore a mask to venture downstairs to do his laundry.

“My house was looking tired,” Lee says. He’d explored options for getting things fixed, but tight finances, along with the mobility issues, kept him from making much progress.

Enter COVER Home Repair & Store, the White River Junction non-profit that brings volunteers and homeowners together to help fix aging houses in the region. They started by building a wooden ramp to help Lee get in and out of his modest, rural house more easily. That’s when they noticed Lee’s home had more problems than a ramp could solve.

COVER’s John Heath stands in front of the group’s first Whole House Repair site in Thetford. All photos © Matt Golec.

While COVER has traditionally tackled smaller, focused fixes (in addition to running its thrifty reuse store), the organization recently announced a two-year, $120,000 grant to fund a new Whole House Repair program. Lee’s house is the first to receive the ‘whole house’ treatment, and work is underway.

“I’m speechless,” Lee said from his front porch as COVER staff and a volunteer worked through a muggy May day. “They are the best people I've met in many, many years. They're conscientious, they're caring, they're creative, and they’re very capable.”

Without the Whole House Repair program, Lee figures he’d have had to move out. “The memories that are in this house would be almost impossible to give up,” he says. “And because of COVER, I don’t have to.”

Helen Hong, COVER’s executive director, explains that the Whole House Repair program came about while she was pursuing a different grant for indoor air quality. Issues like mold that affect air quality can really harm people’s physical and mental well-being, besides being signs of bigger issues.

“Then we thought, how can we take what we already do well and and actually make a bigger impact?” Hong says. “And that's where the Whole House (program) evolved.”

Homeowner Les Lee expresses appreciation for COVER’s volunteers and labor with Executive Director Helen Hong.

This new grant, from the M&T Charitable Foundation, is especially important given the tight real estate market in the Upper Valley. The Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, the Peter J. McLaughlin and Jane Kitchel McLaughlin Family Fund, and USDA Rural Development program also fund the program. For Lee’s Thetford home, the Vermont Center for Independent Living will help with bathroom safety improvements, while the State of Vermont contributes to the removal of his old oil tank.

Fixing up houses can keep people housed for less time and money than building new, Hong explains. For example, Lee’s house repair is expected to cost $25,000-$30,000. “You need to build new homes while you're preserving the ones that are worth saving,” she says.

Many people in the region who bought homes 20 or 30 years ago can’t afford to move now, Hong says, which limits their options when repair projects pile up. Homeowners who benefit from COVER repairs, whether large or small, are asked to help out according to their abilities, and to contribute what they can toward the cost of materials or by providing lunches.

“We have to accept the fact that folks are having to stay in their homes, and we need to make sure their housing conditions are still safe and functional,” she says.

John Heath and Bill Sowerwine work on a muggy, May day in Thetford.

Volunteers remain central to COVER’s mission: Bringing homeowners and volunteers together helps build a powerful sense of community, Hong explains. “It just opens up opportunities for real conversations to happen.”

Bill Sowerwine of Sharon is a veteran COVER volunteer. He likes the positive, tangible benefits he sees when working on COVER projects. “It’s a worthwhile use of my time to meet people's basic needs,” Sowerwine says.