WATERLOO - A volunteer program that helped repair more than 30 homes for low-income Waterloo residents last year will return this summer.

The From the Heart: Waterloo Home Enhancement Project, spearheaded by Ward 4 City Councilman Quentin Hart, is set for a return engagement from July 20 through July 26 this year.

Applications are being collected from low-income elderly or disabled homeowners living on the city's east side and wishing to be included in the project. The paperwork can be picked up at various community services agencies throughout the city, including Operation Threshold, East Side Ministerial Alliance, Jesse Cosby Neighborhood Center, Martin Luther King Center and the Waterloo Community Development Office.

More than 200 youth volunteers and 30 adults from throughout the U.S. came to Waterloo last summer and spent a week improving houses in east Waterloo for those without resources to do the work themselves. The event was managed through Group Workcamps Foundation of Loveland, Colo., and included a number of local organizers and volunteers.

The nonprofit Group Workcamps volunteers lived at Center Middle School during the week.

"We had a lot of groups that were here last year that are coming back," said Hart. "I don't know if it was the Waterloo hospitality. … It probably was, but they also saw a lot of homes that needed to be fixed up."

Hart said the 2008 From the Heart program is already expecting 320 volunteers.

"We're probably going to be able to do 45 homes this year at our current (volunteer) level," he said.

Residents must meet income guidelines to be considered for the program, and repairs generally include painting and minor carpentry work. Roof replacements and more serious renovation projects generally are not included.

Questions about the program can be directed to Waterloo Community Development, 291-4429.

Contact Tim Jamison at (319) 291-1577 or tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.