TAOS program helps residents prep for weatherHolly Arviso pulls nails from a roof near Tohatchi on Tuesday. Arviso and others are participating in the Tohatchi Area of Opportunity and Services (TAOS) program that gives young adults on the job training while they work for their GED. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Dine Bureau

TOHATCHI — Alice S. Benallie doesn’t know what she would have done if not for the Tohatchi Area of Opportunity and Services Youth Build USA program.

Benallie, a veteran’s widow, was living in a home with a leaky roof. With the rain and snow season coming up, she tried to get help from the local chapter house but was told it could take a long time to get to her.

Then she remembered how TAOS staff came to a chapter meeting and told the community about the services it offers.

“I’ve been wanting to have a reroof before the rain and snow comes. Every time I see the clouds come up, I think, ‘Oh no, it’s going to rain or snow.’ Now I don’t have to worry. I can sleep good,” she said. “Now they’re here and I’m so grateful for this program TAOS.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday, youth from TAOS ’s Youth Build USA program got up on Benallie’s roof and began the job of fixing it. Benallie provided the materials for the roofing job and the kids and instructor provided the labor.

“Those guys are fast. They know what they’re doing,” Benallie’s son Dennis said as he watched the youth work on the roof. Dennis also helped out with the crew but he has limited use of one of his hands from an old injury.
“I don’t know what to say. All I can say is thank you, thank you. I don’t know what I could have done,” Benallie said.

Ernest Sage, from Tohatchi, is also grateful for the work that the program did on the home of his father, Peter, a veteran.

After the building of his home was abandoned, the TAOS Youth Build USA program came in and assisted in completing construction.

“It’s really wonderful — the help they gave us,” he said.

The program helps high school dropouts aged 17 to 24 to train and obtain the knowledge to do such jobs as home repair, construction and weatherization.

“There’s a need for more renovation as well as housing.

What we wanted to do is go a step further and include training for more people because initially our program provides training for disabled people,” Marcella Franklin, housing specialist with TAOS, said.

TAOS is working with many other organizations and programs trying to get housing up around Navajo, Franklin said.

“Our move now is to get funding back into our program to keep it sustainable,” Franklin said.

Though based in Tohatchi, student crews travel around the Navajo Nation for some projects. Another crew was working at Red Valley on Tuesday and others have gone to Huerfano, Franklin said.

The crews do mostly weatherization projects, such as roofing, fixing broken windows and other home repairs, that keep homes warm in weather.

The Youth Build USA program has four components, Franklin said, including helping youth to get their GED, construction classroom training, worksite construction training and license training.

Instructor Frank Enoah, who recently earned his national construction certification, said that the students do carpentry work, roofing, siding and painting in the field.

“We’ve done a couple houses from the ground up,” he said.

Deidre Begay is one of the youth learning how to build and repair homes. Her goal is to become a licensed contractor. She was taking off the roofing paper from Benallie’s home and putting in some new boards Tuesday morning.

About the program, Begay said, “It’s giving me experience and it’s giving me a taste of what it will be like and what to expect.”

She said it made her feel good to help out the Benallie family.

Franklin said that the students enjoy their work because they get to see the results.

For Enoah, he said, “I like helping out elderly. She (Benallie) said she’s been trying to get assistance from the chapter house and other organizations and I told our students about it and they said ‘Yeah, let’s go do it.’”

He said there are a lot of needs for bathroom additions and roofing on the Navajo Nation.

“There’s a lot on the reservation, especially elderly. They need assistance,” he said.

Franklin said that TAOS has offered to train someone from the local chapter but so far, the chapter has not taken the program up on the offer.