The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundations’s “Hands On Athens” program, now in its thirteenth year, will work on a dozen homes this April 5th, 6th and 7th. As in previous years, Hands On Athens provides free maintenance, repairs and landscaping improvements for low-income homeowners in the historic Hancock Corridor, East Athens and Newtown neighborhoods. The program is now looking for volunteers, of all skill levels, interested in working one or more half-day shifts during the project weekend.

While most of HOA’s work is completed by several hundred unskilled and semi-skilled volunteers, HOA also depends on the community spirit of several outstanding contractors, builders and landscape professionals who donate their services and coordinate efforts at the various houses during work weekends. Work to be undertaken this Spring includes porch repair; roof repair and replacement; siding repair; door and window repair and replacement; handicapped ramp repair and installation; exterior painting; and landscaping. Interior work is less common but has been carried out at several homes in recent years and will be a small component of this Spring’s HOA weekend.
Hands On Athens is administered by the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, our community’s nonprofit historic preservation advocacy organization. Primary funding for HOA comes in the form of a Community Development Block Grant provided by Athens-Clarke County Human and Economic Development. Several local sponsors and private donors also give to the project annually. A number of local agencies, businesses and churches provide in-kind support so that we may help our deserving homeowners, many of whom are elderly and/or handicapped. Restoration of neighborhood pride and improved quality of life are the very tangible results of a program that this fiscal year is being expanded to three work weekends.

Last October HOA had its first fall work weekend, during which eight volunteers painted an entire house in two days. And more growth is in-store for FY 2013, when we expand the fall work weekend and utilize data from a historic property inventory (currently underway in our target neighborhoods) to prioritize future work and reach out to even more needy Athens-Clarke homeowners in these historic areas.

Anyone interested in volunteering during one or more work shifts of the April 5th through 7th project weekend should contact:
John Kissane
Hands On Athens Administrator
Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation
489 Prince Avenue
Athens, Georgia 30601

Hands On Athens – Serve to Preserve!
Celebrating 12 Years of Community Service