Austin widow watches home husband provided fall into disrepair | Season for Caring
Manuel Hernandez surprised his wife, Olivia, with the keys to a Windsor Park home 52 years ago. But it was more than a birthday present. The stone house tucked into an East Austin cul-de-sac represented a promise that Olivia R. Hernandez would always be cared for.
In the mid-1970s, when he wasn’t painting bridges for the highway department, Manuel expanded the home with his own hands — doubling the size of the living room, adding a garage and building a second story with two more bedrooms and a half-bath, providing space for the couple and their five children. Decades of Christmases, Easters, birthday celebrations and baby showers happened within these walls.
Before cancer took Manuel in 2001, he made sure the house was paid off.
Olivia, now 82, doesn’t have the luxury of sentimentality, though. Right now, the home means “that I have a roof over my head,” she said. Even that feels fragile.
A sewage pipe underneath the downstairs bathroom is cracked, emitting the acrid odors you might expect. A handrail is desperately needed along the stairs where Olivia slipped and fell in 2018. Cracks have appeared in the chimney. The roof leaks. Repairs are needed to plumbing fixtures, electrical sockets and the heating and air conditioning systems.
“I’m trying to manage whatever I can that needs doing in here, because it takes money, and I don’t have the money to do it,” said Olivia R. Hernandez, who shares the home with her middle daughter, 61-year-old Debbie Hernandez.
The women scrape by, month to month, on Olivia’s Social Security benefits and Debbie’s disability check. Debbie has several health conditions, including advanced arthritis that limits her mobility.
“It’s hard. It’s very hard,” said Debbie, fighting back tears. “But we manage. We’re each other’s comfort and support.”
The city of Austin has a program for families like the Hernandezes: The GO REPAIR! Program, funded by a portion of the voter-approved affordable housing bonds, pays for essential repairs to help lower income families stay in their homes. But the demand has been staggering: Even with $7 million available last year, only 15% of the applicants received help. The rest are on a waiting list until the next round of money is available.
The Hernandezes are on that waiting list.
Read more: Find more Season for Caring stories at statesman.com/seasonforcaring.
Olivia has always taken pride in her space. Once her children were grown, Olivia became a custodial worker for two decades at the University of Texas’ School of Nursing. Each night she dusted the blinds, wiped the handprints off the glass doors and left the floors immaculate.
At home, she cultivated a garden and regularly mowed her lawn until a few years ago, at age 78, when she fell and fractured her spine while carrying a 24-pack of bottled water into the house.
“That’s why I can’t do the yard work anymore,” Olivia said wistfully. “Otherwise, I’d be out there right now.”
Sitting in the driveway is Olivia's 2010 Chevrolet HHR, which hasn’t run for a year because it needs a new motor that the family can’t afford. The Hernandezes rely on relatives to take them to doctors' appointments and the grocery store.
The family members help one another in unexpected ways. Every so often, when fortune smiles upon them, Olivia's oldest daughter, Cathy Hernandez, drops off a handful of winning lottery tickets for her mother to cash, providing the money to buy groceries or pay other bills.
“That was a blessing,” Debbie Hernandez said, then nodded toward her mother. “She was broke. I saw her crying.”
Olivia had everything she needed when Manuel was alive. “I always told him: Your money is my money. And my money is my money,” Olivia said, chuckling, referring to her earnings as a custodial worker. She stretched every dollar.
Then Austin became breathtakingly expensive, and the family home buckled with age. All of the burdens grew heavier without Manuel to help shoulder them.
Olivia makes do. And every month she gets a hand from her late husband: Her widow's benefit check from Social Security, which goes toward the utility bill and other expenses.
Even after all these years, Manuel's loving labor keeps the lights on.
The Hernandez family’s wishes:
A new motor for their 2010 Chevrolet HHR sport utility vehicle, or a replacement vehicle; home repairs, including repairing a leaky sewage pipe, fixing cracks in walls and chimney, repairing roof leaks and HVAC system, new vent hood for stove and backsplash in the kitchen; adding handicap-accessible features, including replacing bathtub with a walk-in shower with bench and handheld shower head, and adding handrail to stairs; replacing electrical outlets that do not meet code; replacing nonworking ceiling fans, broken light fixtures and dysfunctional faucets; replacing other damaged items, such as sheetrock, exterior siding, bathroom floors and door hardware; utility bill assistance and weatherization services; extermination services; cosmetic upgrades such as interior and exterior painting; dentistry services for Debbie Hernandez; veterinary services for dog Bentley; gift cards to buy Christmas presents for grandchildren and great-grandchildren; H-E-B and gas gift cards.
Their wish list is available on Amazon.
Nominated by: Interfaith Action of Central Texas, Hands on Housing program, 5307 Airport Blvd., Suite B and C, Austin, TX 78751, or P.O. Box, 16170, Austin, TX 78761. 512-386-9145, interfaithtexas.org
Its mission: Interfaith Action cultivates peace and respect across faith communities through dialogue, service and celebration. Its Hands on Housing program helps repair the homes of older adults and people with disabilities living in deep poverty.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Season for Caring: Austin widow, watches home fall into disrepair
