SOUTH RANGE — On a rainy Saturday morning, teams fanned out to houses in Houghton County to add touches that made them better-looking and more functional.

The volunteer crews were part of Let’s Rebuild Community, now in its second summer of upgrading homes in the Copper Country for seniors, veterans or people with disabilities.

The group, part of Let’s Eat Senior Meals, started work last year with four homes in the Calumet area.

Binroth started Let’s Rebuild Together last year, modeling it on the national program Rebuilding Together he had worked on in Florida.

“That’s what the idea is based on, to protect the seniors’ or veterans’ biggest investment: their house,” he said. “You’ve got to do the outside sooner or later, and that’s what we’re doing.”

That means painting all four outside walls. It can also mean building safety features like railings or ramps.

The group works with Copper Shores Meals on Wheels to get applications out to homeowners in need.

“They have drivers who take the meals out into different communities, and their drivers know a lot of people,” he said. “They know the recipient situations, they know who owns houses and who needs help.”

For an Atlantic Mine homeowner who’s currently hospitalized, the group is working on a ramp and the entrance to her house.

In a neighborhood near where the group gathered at the 1902 Tap & Grill Saturday morning, the group is adding handrails and a stem wall to stop the 17-foot cement walkway between her door and the entrance to the garage from flooding and freezing over in the winter.

Another house in Painesdale hadn’t been painted in “forever” Saturday morning, a crew was out scraping off the remnants of paint on the window trim to prepare for a fresh coat. On another wall, the cedar shakes were in such bad shape they needed to be pried off and replaced.

“It’s just seen no work on it for so long that this is the situation, and the owner can’t afford it,” Binroth said. “It would cost probably $10,000 to get someone to paint it, not to mention replacing the cedar shakes.”

Instead, there’s a loyal crew of volunteers. Binroth brought on Danielle Meirow last year to help recruit volunteers. She succeeded immediately, telling Binroth, “I’ll try. And also, you got me.”

Meirow, director of student leadership and involvement at Michigan Technological University, loved the idea of the project immediately.

“It’s really cool to see the homeowners, but it’s also just nice to get to know other community members that I don’t always get to interact with, just working at the university,” she said. “I’ve lived here for five years. This is probably the most engaged with the local area that I’ve been and so really making that conscious choice to want to support the area that I call home.”

Houghton High School teacher Traci Welch got involved after learning about it at church from her pastor, Bucky Beach, who also volunteers with the program. Binroth dubbed her the “one-person wrecking crew” after seeing her take down a decaying deck outside a home in Calumet last year.

She got demolition experience working with her father, a teacher who resided houses and built decks as a summer job. Her dad would carefully pry at things. Welch and her brother, who also worked on the jobs, took a different approach.

“My brother is a big, 6(-foot), 5(-inch) guy,” she said. “He would just grab onto stuff, rip it down. So I kind of went over with him.”

Welch is also the advisor for Houghton High School’s chapter of Interact, the youth program for Rotary. Last year, she was able to round up students from the club for additional work after school started.

Saturday, several of the students were available Saturday morning, joining Welch and Meirow to work on the house in Painesdale.

Interact President Emilyn Fay had fun painting houses with the club in Calumet last fall. It’s good for high school students to be involved with the community, she said.

“This is just a really great way to reach out and help the people in our community who can’t help themselves, so getting us all together as friends makes it a really enjoyable and memorable experience,” she said. “You give a little, and that’s part of what our club is, giving back and working all together to make the community — and through that, making the world — a better place.”

Funding for house preservation comes from Upper Peninsula Commission for Area Progress. The Keweenaw Community Foundation helped pay for the outside coating on the houses.

Last year, the program held an end-of-season lunch with the volunteers and the homeowners.

“Watching them come out, even the joy of watching them engage with the volunteers around their homes was really cool to see,” Meirow said. “Just thrilled to see that many people come out and show their support.”

The volunteer work will continue Saturday and Sunday. For more information or to volunteer, contact Binroth at 906-370-9965 or bbinroth@gmail.com.