Steamboat Pilot & Today

Oak Creek — In the tradition of an Amish barn raising, a handful of Oak Creek residents showed up with screwdrivers and work clothes to build a deck for the local senior citizen apartments on Moffat Street.

Plans for a deck were already in the works, pending funding and approval, but when Mayor Cargo Rodeman found 400 square feet of used redwood decking in the Freebies section of Steamboat Today, she saw no reason to wait.

With the help of Oak Creek locals Annie Kayhoe, Maynard Short and Janine Pierce, Rodeman loaded the wood into a U-haul near Clark and drove it back to Oak Creek.

"I went into Mugshot for a cup of coffee and a bagel and I was volunteered," said Short, 69. "(Cargo) can be very persuasive."

Rodeman approached her roommate, Dean Larsen, a carpenter, about building the deck. Within hours, she said, a crew of volunteers was ready.

"Anything for our seniors is a good thing," Larsen said. "The truth is that I might be (in those senior apartments) one of these days."

On Saturday, Oct. 5, the group poured concrete, donated by Brandon Hoskinson, for the deck footing.

When it dried the next day, they went to work.

Pisa's Restaurant in Oak Creek donated lunch on Sunday as Kayhoe, Pierce, Kelly Patro, Mark Zippay, Jerry Flick, Mike Pelham, Larsen and Hoskinson worked to frame and build the deck.

Screws were donated by the Material Guys, a construction and auto parts store in Oak Creek.

This weekend, the group returned to finish the deck.

Jack and Janie Romick have donated a picnic table for the seniors resident Jake Schwan has offered to build a brick barbecue next spring to finish the deck, Rodeman said.

The only thing in their way is that they have no bricks.

Rodeman seems confident someone will donate them, although no one has approached her yet.

On Thursday, Rodeman went to a grant-writing workshop in Aurora with the hope of learning how to apply for community funding.

The new deck, however, built fast and free with donated labor and materials, proves that legwork is sometimes better than paperwork in getting things done.