Forty professors and staff members from the management department of DePaul University's College of Commerce will trade textbooks and term papers for hammers and paint brushes on April 25 when they volunteer to repair the home of a South Side family.

The DePaul team will work from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. tackling peeling paint, repairing rotten window sills and fixing the damaged porch of a house in the Gresham neighborhood owned by 53-year-old Irma Haynes. Haynes, who has worked as a nurses' aide at Illinois Masonic Medical Center for 28 years, lives in the home with her daughter and four grandchildren. Family members will help the DePaul management team with the repair project.

Calling the 40 sets of helping hands "a blessing" she didn't expect, Haynes said she is excited about working with the DePaul professors and staff. "To have strangers come and help, and be so dedicated and concerned--that's extraordinary and wonderful," she said.

The DePaul management department's efforts are part of a national home repair charity event called "Christmas in April" run by a Texas-based non-profit organization of the same name. The repair projects assist female homeowners who are unable to maintain their homes because of age, income or infirmity. The goal of the project is to provide warmer, safer and dryer homes for families in need. This is the first year business professors and staff from DePaul have participated in the program..

"The project not only carries out DePaul's tradition of offering assistance to the needy in the community, but it will also creates a broader appreciation of the various skills of faculty and staff," said Gerhard Plaschka, chair of the management department.

The department's faculty and DePaul's Vincentian Endowment Fund contributed $3,000 to pay for paint and building materials, supplies, dumpsters, bus transportation and liability insurance for the project. Prior to the fix-up day, members of the department made several visits to the home to plan the repairs and to get to know the Haynes family, said Laura Fischer, a management staff member who is organizing DePaul's effort.

Among the supporters of Christmas in April are the City of Chicago, Cook County Board, Chicago-area corporations, and Pepper Construction Co. In a statement praising the charity, Mayor Richard M. Daley said: "Christmas in April is an example of people coming together--black, white, Asian, young, old, volunteers, residents of the community--to improve someone's quality of life"

NOTE TO REPORTERS: Laura Fischer or Gerhard Plaschka can be reached at (312) 362-5451. Suzanne Connor, the executive director of Christmas in April Metro Chicago, can be reached at (312) 201-1188.