On a humid Saturday morning, volunteers showed up at a senior’s home with paint gear in hand at 7:00 a.m.
Paint Your Heart Out Tampa (PYHOT) celebrated its 35th anniversary — and the more than 3,100 homes it has painted — on April 26.
The organization paints homes for disabled and low-income seniors cost-free.
This year, more than 1,500 volunteers were dispatched to 72 seniors’ homes, ready to paint them — white, with trim options of red, blue, green and yellow.
One senior who received PYHOT’s service is Mario Chacon. The nearly 91-year-old Cuban native has been living in Tampa since 1951.
Chacon’s home was built for his parents in 1968, but it hasn't had a fresh coat of paint in the more than 30 years he's lived there.
“I’ve been really enjoying these people that came here. I wasn’t expecting that, it’s really fun, I’m really enjoying this,” Chacon said.
By noon, across Tampa, hands and t-shirts bearing sponsors names were covered in white paint.
The TypTap group, a sponsor for many years, helped repaint Chacon's home.
While hundreds of volunteers painted homes, high school students were receiving volunteer hours back at the distribution center, boxing up supplies for next year’s function.
TECO and a few other organizations helped the PYHOT steering committee distribute gallons of paint for pick-up a day earlier.
“It’s just a great way to improve the neighborhood, improve their house and make them feel a lot better, plus giving the team an opportunity to help the city of Tampa,” Jerry Hansen, the Executive Director of Paint Your Heart Out Tampa, said. “I believe the city of Tampa is one of the greatest cities to live in.”
In the organization's 35-year history, PYHOT volunteers have put in more than 550,000 hours worth of work.
The organization used over 145 total gallons of paint this year — adding to the almost 46,000 gallons they've applied.
Hansen was a part of the original initiative when organizers brought the idea to then-Tampa Mayor Sandra Freedman in 1989.
Since then, the city has supported PYHOT through sponsorships. In return, PYHOT focuses on finding houses within the city limits.
The core group now consists of a 25-member steering committee, who are Hansen’s “first-round draft picks” to coordinate the event or pick up work. The team relies on the community for help locating the homes and providing volunteers who are willing to get their hands dirty.
Seniors can apply online throughout the year, or they can be recommended by neighbors. Homes are selected as the volunteer groups are finalized.
They're selected based on property need, age, and income status. The seniors must own and live in the home, it can't have vinyl or aluminum siding. and they have to be willing to have it painted white with a colorful trim.
Recipients must be 62 years or older, disabled, or are on a fixed income set by the federal government.
While volunteers pick up the supplies on Friday, a private power washing company provides services to each house for a fraction of the price.
By the following morning, teams of 12 to 20 show up ready with their paint rollers.
The Hillsborough County Public Defender’s office sponsored and volunteered for the first time this year, painting the home of a bedridden senior white with a red trim.
“Our attorneys, their service is every day in the courtroom, but to see them come out here and [do] this, it shows that those things go hand-in-hand,” Kim Hindman, the Chief Assistant for the Public Defender’s office, said. “Whether it’s with our arguments in the courtroom or our paintbrushes today, we’re helping everybody.”
The University of South Florida had a team of 13 from the on-campus organizations Sisters Inspiring Success (SIS) and Brothers Reaching Ultimate Heights (BRUH), who helped a senior named Sheryl Hart.
“After painting the house and realizing how much we helped her, even if it was just a little bit by painting the exterior of her house, it felt very, very rewarding,” team captain, USF freshman Kalilah Fuller, said. “'Because at the end of the day, I know that we all took our time on a Saturday to help someone who honestly, really needed it.”
It’s not required for a volunteer team to be a sponsor, but a lot of them are.
“It’s really rewarding, because at the end of the day you get to see the impact that you’ve had for the homeowner,” Megan Luker, a volunteer with HCI Group, said.
The diversified company, which focuses on insurance, technology, and real estate, has been participating in PYHOT for 12 years.
“With this whole program, we get to help them not only beautify the neighborhood, but then feel really good about where they’re living," Luker said.
The HCI group painted the home of Alton Kemp, a Navy veteran who has been living alone since his wife passed away in 2013.
“Paint Your Heart Out has come to paint my house for me, and I’m really thankful for that," Kemp said. “All that’s been done and being done, I’m just grateful.”
He spent the Saturday alongside the volunteers in the sun, tending to his vast backyard garden. There were also volunteers from his church who were helping him build a shed while the painters toiled.
“It’s my home because of what God has done, and the community is part of that. For me, that’s what it is. So I’m thankful," Kemp said.
PYHOT has shared their organizational handbook with other states, such as New York, California and Mississippi. The next goal is to expand the initiative into neighborhoods outside of the Bay area.
“Our hope is to be able to help other communities in Florida start a program like this and help the whole state of Florida,” Hansen said.
