James O'Brien is the owner of O'Brien Contractors in Pleasanton and worked on the first Saturday, April 21, of the project. Loretta's cousins own O'Brien Brothers Construction in San Jose and worked on April 28. O'Brien began visiting the La Duca home in March, to see what tools and materials they would need and to determine how they would get everything done on two Saturdays. Having plenty of hands to help was important. Good weather, especially after the amount of rain the day before on April 20, also helped things run smoothly, she says.
Some volunteers come from Rebuilding Together.
Lee is one of them. She became a board member last year, after calling the organization to donate a door she couldn't use. Rebuilding Together, then called Christmas in April, was started in Texas in 1973, and has since grown to include more than 240 programs in more than 700 cities nationwide. Lee says the organization changed its name from Christmas in April earlier this year to better reflect what it really does, to be more inclusive of those who don't celebrate Christmas, and to open the possibility for expanding their efforts to other times of the year. She says the Silicon Valley organization has no specific plans to broaden their scope just yet.