Volunteers Chip in to Help Millbrae Family Displaced by Fire

A 92-year-old Millbrae woman and her family will likely return home by Christmas thanks to volunteers who are restoring their fire-damaged home.

Housing nonprofit Rebuilding Together Peninsula, with about 15 volunteers, started major renovations to Teofila Lowry’s home on Thursday after a November 2010 electrical fire left the 927 Palmito Drive home uninhabitable.

“Everything was black, the walls, the kitchen drawers. We lost everything,” said Liz Paz, Lowry’s daughter, who lives in Fremont. 

Before the fire, Teofila Lowry lived in her home with her son Chris Lowry and his twin autistic 18-year-old daughters, Bianca and Cindy. 

But for the last year, Chris has been staying in a small apartment in San Bruno, while one of the twins lives in a facility serving autistic people and the other lives with her mother. Teofila lives with her daughter in Fremont.

Although the family was initially demoralized, Paz said her mother’s spirit galvanized them. Standing at under 5 feet tall and having to rely on a walker, Teofila eagerly moved from room to room to examine the new features of her home. She pointed to empty room corners, and in a mixture of Spanish and English, suggested where all the new fixtures should be placed.

She was also impressed by the new deck volunteers had built in the backyard. Many of the workers were professional contractors donating their time, while others were friends of the Lowry’s.

“As I was driving I saw lots of fire trucks that night on El Camino, and I drove by the house on the night of the fire,” said Bob Miller, a volunteer and friend of Chris Lowry. 

After attending Capuchino High School together in the late 1970‘s, the two reconnected about five years ago when the Lowry’s needed a handyman. 

The family was not insured, and the damage was estimated at over $100,000. Fortuitously, they had applied for a Rebuilding Together Peninsula grant for some minor repairs before the fire, and within two days of the blaze, Cari Pang Chen, the nonprofit’s program director, was surveying the house with a general contractor and fireman.

Typically, the nonprofit does not accept projects of this magnitude, but Chen decided to help.

“We had just finished doing work with a lot of San Bruno fire victims,” Chen said. 

She requested that Millbrae waive the $2,423 permit fee for the project, and although the city only reimbursed half the costs, the Millbrae Community Foundation contributed the remainder.

Rebuilding Together Peninsula assists about 50 low-income residents each year in San Mateo and northern Santa Clara County. It is providing the Lowry’s with about $60,000 in materials and donated time, and the family borrowed about $90,000 from the San Mateo County Department of Housing.

So far, in addition to reflooring and painting, volunteers have converted the dining room into an additional bedroom in the former 2-bedroom house, and installed a deck and a fire sprinkler system.

Volunteers expect to complete the work in two more work days, one on Saturday and another on Dec. 10.

“The house represents us,” Paz said. “When it’s put back together, we’ll be together again.”