What rolls around comes around for Rock Hill man who receives volunteer paint work

Don Manus was already familiar with the Rolling in Rock Hill program.

On more than one occasion, he volunteered for the event along with other members of Civitan International to paint elderly and disabled people’s homes. So years later, when he found himself retired at 68, and with a home in need of a new paint job, he knew where to turn.

“I thought ‘I need help, I’ll go and ask,’” Manus said.

On Saturday 38 volunteers rolled up to his home on Community Street with city-provided paint supplies and made his home of 12 years look a little brighter and more inviting. As they scaled the sides of the two-story house, Manus, retired from public safety at York Technical College, gave his encouragement – from the ground.

“There’s no way on earth I could have done it,” he said. “I have vertigo, so I couldn’t get up a ladder.”

Manus’ was one of 21 houses across Rock Hill targeted by the Rolling program, which coordinates and assists volunteer groups to paint older homes on a single day.

Since 1995, Rolling in Rock Hill has painted 250 houses across the city, mobilizing an estimated 1,500 people in the process, whether that involves civic clubs such as Manus’, churches, school groups, or business organizations such as the ones who painted Manus’ house – all of whom either work for B&B Distributors or were their spouses and children.

“We started this with the city based on Paint Your Heart Out Tampa,” a similar program targeting the homes of lower-income residents, said Cathryn Brindle, co-chair of the program.

Brindle has participated in the program since the beginning – until this weekend. A prior engagement called her out of town.

“It’s the first one in 20 years I’ve missed,” she said.

Private groups carry out the work and nominate the homes to be painted, but the program is managed by the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Services. The department assesses the homes – they must be owner-occupied to qualify – and hands out supplies such as ladders to the volunteer groups.

“We act as runners,” said Mike Kropp, the city’s neighborhood empowerment supervisor. “We drive around and if the teams need anything, we run it out to them so we don’t slow down their progress.”

The B&B group needed some runners when they hit a snag Saturday. The team hoped to be done well before noon, but needed taller ladders to finish painting the back side of Manus’ house, which is on a slight slope.

“We’ve been doing this for three years as a community project,” said B&B sales manager Tommy Pappas. “This year we put together a gift bag as an incentive.”

The effort attracted other supporters besides the beer distributors. Friends at Liquid Munn-E in Lancaster loaned the painters a Porta John for the day, and Honey Baked Hams offered them a discount on the sandwiches they ordered for lunch. But mostly Pappas said the credit should go to the volunteers.

“They just wanted a chance to help outside of their own families or churches,” he said, “to give back to their communities.”

Their generosity meant one less headache for the homeowner.

“I am relieved,” Manus said. “It looks so much better.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 7:02 PM with the headline "What rolls around comes around for Rock Hill man who receives volunteer paint work."