With the Super Bowl just two weeks away, many people are getting excited about opportunities to have fun or make some extra money.
However, a select handful of residents are preparing for an impact from the event that will last a lifetime. They include 20 residents of the Near Eastside who are having their homes renovated as part of the Super Bowl Legacy Project.
One of them, Shirley Murphy, can hardly contain the excitement she has for herself and the other elderly, handicapped or low-income residents who will soon have safer and more energy efficient homes.
“I was just tickled to death when they first told me about this,” Murphy said with a smile as volunteer contractors worked nearby in her bathroom and kitchen. “It was something totally unexpected and I’m glad they picked us.”
Murphy’s 80-year-old home, located on State Avenue in the city’s historic Woodruff Place neighborhood, is neat and stately but shows signs of decay, with aging fixtures inside and outside.
“I’ve been trying for four years to get new windows in my house because they were falling out and breaking on the ground,” said Murphy, who has lived in her home more than three decades.
Fortunately, Murphy is among those who will benefit from the Near Eastside Legacy Project, an initiative launched by the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee to improve the quality of life for area residents with education and fitness activities, housing redevelopment and community infrastructure improvements.
Before each Super Bowl, the National Football League (NFL) usually provides $1 million to the host city’s organizing committee for a specific community project. The Indianapolis host committee, however, chose to do something different and innovative.
Instead of a single effort, they decided to collaborate with neighborhood organizations and businesses to complete several projects before the big game.
One of the partners the host committee is working with is Indy-east Asset Development, which works to expand opportunities for quality and affordable housing. Indy-east Asset Development, which has already overseen the construction of hundreds of houses and apartments over the last three years, was asked to coordinate grassroots redevelopment efforts.
“We are glad to have the opportunity to help build new homes, because there’s really nothing like helping people who have been a part of this community for a long time, through the best and worst of times,” said Katy Brett executive director of Indy-east Asset Development.
Another partnering organization, Rebuilding Together, is providing volunteers needed to complete projects that will benefit many of the 21 neighborhoods on the Near Eastside. For 12 years Rebuilding Together has assisted people who are not able to make repairs due to physical limitation or low income.
“Once an area is selected, our partnering organizations help us find homeowners we can help,” said Acey Byrd, operations coordinator for Rebuilding Together. “Our partners in the construction industry make vital electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling repairs. Then we have volunteers finish the general cosmetic upgrades.”
Byrd said the renovations will be finished in time for the Super Bowl next month.
Homeowners who are receiving the makeovers were selected based not only on their need, but also their close proximity to other Super Bowl related projects such as an area playground and new apartment complexes and a retail center.
The home renovations and all of the other projects in the area will be showcased as part of pre-game festivities.
More than $154 million, including public agency grants and donations from private foundations, is being invested in Legacy revitalization efforts.
Murphy is delighted that much of the investment is already reaching residents. Her house is being fitted with upgrades such as new siding, new windows, a kitchen redesign, a handicapped assessable bathroom, new paint, landscaping and customized flooring in the family room and kitchen.
This week, Murphy was trading jokes with volunteers who walked in and out of her house carrying equipment and supplies. Then, her smile faded into an appearance of appreciation and amazement as she looked around at all of the work taking place.
“It is nice to have things unexpectedly done to your home,” she said. “I could never have been able to afford any of this, never. This house would have eventually just fell to the ground.”
