Martinez, 55, a lifetime resident of Carrboro, has been a library assistant at Culbreth Middle School for 23 years.

Her home was selected by the Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors (GCHAR) for its annual Fix-A-Home project, which this year focused on people working in service-sector jobs such as teachers, bus drivers, janitors and the like.

"We considered all those wonderful people who have a hand in educating our most precious commodity, our children," said project chairwoman Pat Neagle, "and knew this was the right group of people to assist."

Martinez's home needs major renovations.

In 1948, her father, a World War II veteran, moved sections of army barracks from Camp Butner, to a lot at 423 S. Greensboro St.

The cost to build the family homeplace was $3,200. It took Martinez's mother, Virginia Sturdevant -- who made bullets in Carr Mill when the former cotton mill was used for a foundry work during the war -- 30 years to pay it off.

Currently, Martinez pays $3,200 in property taxes, one-fourth of her yearly wages. She remembers her mother paid $380 in the mid-1990s.

Her son, Tyler, 19, also grew up in the home and still lives with her.

Their kitchen is rustic and does not have a dishwasher. The kitchen cabinets, which Fix-A-Home will replace, are original and came from the medical supply room at the army barracks.

In 1996, Martinez's mother signed the home over to her daughter.

Martinez then took out a mortgage to replace the asbestos shingles on the sides of the house with siding. She also invested in central air and heat, since the house had neither. Three years ago, she finally got a shower.

Martinez home, which is structurally sound, is just the type of project the Fix-A-Home volunteers specialize in.

"Her home definitely needs some repairs, but the needs were not so serious that they would be beyond our budget or volunteer abilities," said Neagle.

In 2007, the Fix-A-Home project kicked off after Sue Millager, executive director of the Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors, saw a similar program in New Hampshire.

"We were looking for a community service project that would help the community and be related to real estate," said Millager.

"With our first home, we put in a new kitchen, painted the living room and bathroom, pulled carpet and [did] general cleaning," said Millager.

The project uses money raised through Realtor members, local fund-raisers, local businesses and community members.

"We've been very fortunate to have outstanding volunteerism from the community," said Millager, who recruited the help of Wayne Herndon,general contractor and owner of Herndon Construction.

"Wayne Herndon, has been our on-site 'supervisor' all three years and he volunteers his time and crew," said Millager who met Herndon when he did kitchen remodeling for her home.

Herndon said he feels blessed and gives back as much as he is able to the community. "I have steady work, I have a good crew, and I do believe God is watching out for me and my family," he said.

Herndon supplies as many as five crew members for each project's work days. "My guys enjoy doing a meaningful renovation project," he said, "and we've done Habitat for Humanity before, and thought why not Fix-A-Home, too."

Last year's home employed 60 volunteers over two days to repair siding, paint the exterior of the home and landscape the yard. Volunteers also installed a fence and new dog house for the owner's Australian shepherd, said Millager.

This week's work on Martinez's home will include landscaping, new kitchen cabinets, floors, paint, exterior wood repair, news steps and driveway and general "beautification inside and out."

Martinez who is diabetic and has been battling a brown recluse spider bite with antibiotics since April, said she was still in shock over the upcoming renovations.

"It means a lot to me and my family," she said, though at the time of this late August interview she said she was more excited about ending her summer break (as a 10-month employee) and getting back to her middle school kids.

"I love working with the kids," said Martinez who makes it her personal mission to find the right book for theright child.

"I understand you have to catch their interest to make them want to read a book," she said, recalling one seventh grader who had never read a book completely through.

"He said, 'You will not be able to find anything I like to read,'" Martinez said, and laughs. "I gave him 'The Boy from the Basement,' and he came back to me a week later and said it was the best book he'd ever read."

The Fix-A-Home project which is still fairly new, has been welcomed by local Realtors.

"We are very proud of the project and the work we've been able to do these last three years," said Millager. "We're looking forward to seeing what transformations happen at Ms. Martinez's house."