We Fort Bend Democrats, a Democratic political action committee based in Fort Bend County, Texas, just completed the painting the home of Emmanuel and Margarita’s in North Richmond. This is what Democrats do. We help those who cannot help themselves.
Emmanuel has just had radical knee replacement surgery. There is no way he can get up on a ladder. They’re an elderly retired couple living on a limited income.
Thankfully, they own their own home. A home upon which they pay property taxes.
Voting in favor of Proposition 1 on the statewide ballot will restore the Homeowner’s exemption for Emmanuel and Margarita.
So do the right thing. Vote YES on State Proposition 1 (but vote NO on County Proposition 1).
Emmanuel and Margarita’s home has suffered water damage and has been invaded by carpenter ants. The exterior wood on the house had to be replaced and the entire house repainted. The Fort Bend Corps’ Hearts and Hammers program took them under their wing and replaced the rotting surfaces of the house. The Fort Bend Democrats were assigned the task of priming and repainting all the wood surfaces. This we did. It took us 3 weekends, but we did it. By my estimate we devoted a total of 103 Democrat-hours to this project.
Did we do good? You decide! Here is a before picture.
Here is the house as it looks now.
The ants are still there. They’ve started attacking the new wood. Carpenter ants don’t do that. They attack old water-damaged wood. So there are other things happening here. They need their house to be protected from pests, but it’s ironic that Hearts and Hammers only step in after the damage is done, not to prevent the damage.
What to do? I guess more volunteerism is needed outside of home repair. I wish that our many pest control and extermination companies in this area (because if it’s one thing we have it’s bugs) had a program of charitable pest control treatments for the homes of the poor and elderly.
This thought came to mind every time we drove in to paint their house, as we passed the pest control company owned by the chairman of the Fort Bend County Republican Party, which is sited mere blocks from Emmanuel and Margarita’s home.
