Thirty professors, students and staff members from DePaul University’s Department of Management have volunteered to make the home of a West Side widow and her grandchildren warmer, safer and drier. Their home repair project scheduled for April 24 is part of a national charity event called "Christmas in April."

The DePaul volunteers will install new kitchen cabinets and flooring, replace a defective stove, rebuild two bathrooms, paint and patch walls and put up a basketball hoop at the home in the 3800 block of West Polk Street.

"It’s the best Christmas gift I’ll ever get," said resident Laverne Owens, 62, a retired babysitter who is raising four grandsons, aged 9 to 15, in the two-story stone home. "It’s not every day that you get a new kitchen and basketball hoop for the kids all in one day."

"Christmas in April" is sponsored by a Texas-based non-profit organization of the same name. The Polk Street project is one of 70 sites across Chicago where teams from local institutions and corporations will repair homes April 23 and 24. The goal is to assist homeowners who, because of age, income or infirmity, are unable to maintain their homes. Warburg, Dillon & Read, a commodities firm, has partnered with DePaul, donating funds and a few extra hands. This is the second year DePaul’s Department of Management has participated in the program.

Thank-you letters and pictures from last year’s rehab project on the South Side are prominently displayed on a bulletin board in the management department. "Christmas in April gives the whole department an opportunity to work together on a service project," said Professor Rohit Verma, who participated last year and will work on the Polk Street home this year. "People had a lot of fun and felt good about doing something constructive for society, in addition to teaching."

Cook County Board President John Stroger and other city officials will hold a 10 a.m. news conference to discuss the "Christmas in April" repairs April 24 on the 3800 block of West Polk Street, where several of the projects will be under way.