Press Releases For More Information: Valley Organizer for AmeriCares HomeFront Set to Retire After 16 Years of Service SEYMOUR, CT, May 10, 2006 - The individual who is responsible for the AmeriCares HomeFront program operating in the Naugatuck Valley, Seymour resident Henry ("Hank") Daugherty, is about to pass on the leadership baton to Beacon Falls resident Tom Solomon, following sixteen years of service to the community. HomeFront is one of three domestic assistance programs run under the auspices of the Stamford-based AmeriCares international relief agency. The Mission of the program is to help low-income homeowners hold on to their houses by providing free, necessary home repairs. The program primarily serves senior citizens, those facing both physical and mental challenges, those who are chronically ill, and single parents. It is always conducted the first Saturday in May (although there is a project going forward in Derby, CT, this Saturday, May 13, due to a team scheduling conflict). The program is in its nineteenth year. Some 5,000 volunteers repaired 80 homes and community centers throughout much of Connecticut and in Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York, this month. The volunteer teams come from corporations, civic-based organizations, faith-based groups and members of the trade. How the Program Got its Start in the Valley Hank, working alongside his wife Laura, began their involvement with AmeriCares HomeFront working on a roofing project with six others in Westport, CT, in 1990. A year later, Hank served as a co-captain of a team working in Bridgeport and comprised of members from the Men's Club at his church. At his urging, five Methodist churches got together from Ansonia, Great Hill, Naugatuck, Seymour and Shelton to form a coalition team to work in the Valley. In 1992, volunteers from the Valley United Methodist Churches worked on the first local HomeFront project. Hank served as volunteer coordinator. When the group worked on its first privately owned home the next year, Hank became not only the volunteer coordinator who recruited all the team members and kept the project organized, but also the assistant House Captain. From there, he assumed increasing responsibility all the way to the top volunteer job, District Captain, responsible for overseeing all the projects going forward in the Valley - a position he's held for the past decade. By 1994, the Valley United Methodist Churches had taken on 3 houses. In more recent years, Hank has added oversight for projects going forward in some of the more rural towns surrounding Waterbury, including projects in Southbury. His church team is now known as United Churches of Oxford and Seymour, captained by Tom Solomon, Hank's successor. Keeping it 'All in the Family' Hank's wife, Laura Daugherty, in the early years of Hank's involvement worked side-by-side as a team member helping with home and community center repair projects. For the past 12 years, however, she has overseen the operations at a satellite warehouse in the Valley, set up during HomeFront season each year to serve teams both in the Valley and from Greater Waterbury. "It's a great joy to be able to dispense all these materials to the different projects, then be able to see the volunteers in action, using all the materials to make needed changes to so many homes," Laura said. Although both of the couple's daughters are grown and living in another state, they also return on HomeFront weekend to make this a true "family affair." For the past four years, Deanna Daugherty has traveled from East Norriton, PA, camera in hand, so she can visit the projects with her dad, take digital photographs, then showing them to all the volunteers at a potluck dinner on HomeFront night. Daughter Terrie Daugherty travels to CT from Allentown, PA, to help prepare the dinner and be part of the event along with the rest of her family. Conclusion The person whom Hank believes to be the oldest member of the Valley teams is Seymour resident Charlie McKane, painting at a home repair project in Naugatuck last Saturday. Charlie is in his mid-80s.
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