Church Group Fixes Couple’s Leaky Roof

A leaky roof is not a problem you welcome, especially when forecasters are predicting that El Nino weather conditions will unleash ferocious winter storms.

Henry and Kelly Wolcott of Simi Valley have put up with chronic leaks ever since the 1994 Northridge earthquake damaged the roof beams of the senior citizens’ Bigelow Avenue home.

But the couple received some timely help this month from the local Knights of Columbus Council. The Catholic men’s club brought hammers, nails, new beams and tile to fix the Wolcott’s roof. They spent the past two rainy weekends rebuilding the Wolcott’s roof.

By Sunday night, the job was finished. And the Wolcotts were enjoying their warm, dry, 25-year-old stucco home.

“It’s just a wonderful thing that people will go out of their way,” said Kelly Wolcott, 62, of the free roof repair. The club estimates the repairs would have cost $3,000 if done by a private contractor.

Before, whenever storms hit, the couple had to get out the buckets. The rain poured into 76-year-old Henry Wolcott’s den and seeped into the family room.

The couple placed six or seven buckets in their bedroom during storms, and they had to get up in the middle of the night to empty the pails when water reached the brim.

But Henry Wolcott, a self-employed audio engineer, could not afford to fix the roof.

So Rick Ostrich, a member of Simi Valley Knights of Columbus Council 5803, who lives next door to the Wolcotts, convinced fellow club members to help them out.

“Literally, when it rained, it rained inside,” said Ostrich, explaining his motivation.

Ostrich gave another reason for the free roof job:

“They happen to be my neighbors.”