Historic Home Nets a Tidy Nonprofit

It’s a triple good deed: providing a house for a family that otherwise couldn’t afford it, rejuvenating a neglected but historic house and raising money for more charitable works.

Volunteers worked Saturday on a dilapidated 1915 house in Anaheim’s historic district and put to practice a new concept in nonprofit fund-raising: the business of buying and selling houses.

The volunteers pulled up the house’s gold shag carpet--revealing oak floors beneath--took down the living room’s overhead fluorescent lights and removed the kitchen’s Formica counter tops, beginning its complete restoration to the style of its early days.

Once the project is completed in the next few months, the city will provide down-payment assistance to a family of low-moderate income, who will buy the home for about $195,000. Net proceeds will help fund a new organization called Build Your Heart Out, the sponsor of the housing venture, which bought the house for $30,000. But the money also will create an endowment for 10-year-old Paint Your Heart Out, ensuring the future of an organization that, by May, will have painted the homes of 400 elderly and disabled Anaheim residents.

“This is a great project,” said Brent Schultz of Anaheim’s community development department. The family that buys the restored historic home will “have something no one else has. The house will have charm, character.”

Schultz, who also volunteers for Paint Your Heart Out, also emphasized that keeping that organization going is a worthy cause. “They go in and paint homes for seniors and families that would never be able to do it,” he said.

The city’s community development staff initially expressed some skepticism about the idea when it was proposed about seven months ago, said Carolyn Griebe, founder of both Paint Your Heart Out and Build Your Heart Out. First, Build Your Heart Out had to find an appropriate house. Second, the project required start-up funds for the house’s purchase. Third, Griebe needed additional donations of money and services, not to mention time, from volunteers for the refurbishment effort. Griebe estimates the job will take several months.

But Griebe said things soon fell into place. James D. Ruth, Anaheim’s city manager, backed the project. The city’s staff found a house for sale by the city on Broadway. And most importantly, Bill Taormina, co-founder of Taormina Industries, offered the $30,000 necessary to buy it.

The people Griebe has coaxed into helping have nothing but praise for her.

“She has a vision and she’s determined to carry through on those projects she’s 100% behind,” said Dave Seastrom, vice president and regional manager of Turner Construction Co. in Irvine, which is donating financing and staff services.

Even after she had a house, donors and volunteers, Griebe still had to negotiate with the city on doing a proper restoration. She researched paint colors, kitchen floors, cabinets and lighting fixtures, discussed the project with historic-housing experts and spent hours at home-decorating stores. Last Tuesday, the City Council approved the plans.

But the work is hardly over. Griebe still wants to raise about $100,000 to ensure the project’s success. The restoration has only just begun. And the future of Build Your Heart Out is less than concrete.

“I really don’t know what the future holds,” she said, “but I’m not really that worried about it.”