A little paint goes a long way

BARSTOW • Things started looking brighter for the Dotsons early Saturday morning, thanks to 72 volunteers who showed up at the Barstow family’s home at 7:00 a.m. Volunteers sprayed the stucco of the Yosemite Drive home with a fresh coat of paint, transforming the exterior color from a weathered burnt orange to an airy sandy beige.

Jim Dotson stood at the end of his driveway for a moment and watched the flurry of volunteers wielding paintbrushes, rollers and spray guns.

“It’d probably take me several days to paint it,” said Jim. “It’s nice — it’s very nice.”

Barstow residents Jim and Mary Dotson hosted the volunteers from Southwest Gas Corporation’s volunteer BLUE Team — which stands for Building Lives Up Everywhere — and organizers from Brainstorming 4 Us, an Apple Valley-based charity that raises awareness and support for traumatic brain injury survivors. The Dotson’s 25-year-old son, Joshua, survived an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at age 12. During the long process of his recovery, Joshua met Brainstorming founder Tanya Ison, who nominated the Dotsons to get a home makeover this weekend.

Ison, whose brother suffered a debilitating head-on motorcycle crash a few years ago, said she understands how home improvement projects can pile up when a family member’s life is changed by a traumatic injury.

“We know whenever you’re a caregiver,” said Ison, also an employee at Southwest Gas, “you just don’t have any time (other) than taking care of their needs.”

That’s where volunteers like Sacnite Bernal come in. Bernal and husband Enrique of Victorville brought their two children Isabel, 6, and Enrique, 5, to pitch in with projects ranging from planting flowers and repairing the backyard shed to installing a new ceiling fan inside the house. Bernal, who hasn’t personally known a brain injury survivor, said she nonetheless wanted her kids to take part in a community volunteer project.

“It’s important to give back and I want them to learn from very early on to help others,” she said.

Southwest Gas donated $2,000 for the home repairs and Arizona Pipeline contributed $3,000 to repave the driveway, according to Irma Bustamante, organizer from Southwest Gas BLUE Team.

Though the house exterior underwent the most dramatic change, Joshua said he’s most excited about the new ceiling fan installed in their living room. His mother, Mary, had been talking about adding a fan to improve circulation ever since Joshua returned home from the hospital in 1996.

“We’ve been needing that for a long time,” he said.

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(760) 256-4122 or elee@desertdispatch.com