North Minneapolis Tornado Recovery: A Year Later

Over the last year, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities has been working with several partners, including Habitat for Humanity, Sears and the Minneapolis Foundation, to make repairs for homeowners in need who were affected by the tornado that ripped through North Minneapolis last May.  To date, 43 homeowners have received free home repairs through these partnerships.

Despite the progress that has been made, there is still much to be done to help this community recover.  Assistance is still available for qualified low-income homeowners whose homes sustained damage from the tornado.  For more information, please contact us at 651-776-4273 or homeowners@rebuildingtogether-twincities.org.

“Most Valuable Volunteer” Green Hammer Awards at GLS Companies Home Repair Project

We recently partnered with volunteers from GLS Companies to make repairs for a St. Paul homeowner named Kathy.  Kathy is the proud mother of five children – three in college and two who are still living at home.  As a single mother, Kathy was struggling to keep up with maintenance and repairs to her home.  The volunteers from GLS Companies replaced the front and rear doors, repaired and removed cabinets and installed flooring in the kitchen, repaired and painted walls throughout the home, removed carpeting in the living room, installed security lights, replaced the sink and toilet in the bathroom, replaced a window on the front porch, and made several other minor repairs and improvements.  The sponsorship from GLS Companies also covered the cost of having Kathy’s roof repaired.

Among the day’s highlights were the “Most Valuable Volunteer” Green Hammer Awards, which were presented to two outstanding volunteers from GLS – Jim Benedict and Dan “Dusty” Dustin.  Congratulations to both of you and thank you for your hard work!

Thanks to GLS Companies for providing the resources necessary to complete this project and to the awesome GLS volunteer team who worked incredibly hard to help Kathy and her family live more safely and comfortably in their home!

Volunteers from Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School Make a Difference at the Oliver H. Kelley Farm

On May 17th, we partnered with more than 200 volunteers from Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School who descended on the Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River to jump-start a major landscape restoration project.  The Kelley Farm is both a National Historic Landmark and Minnesota Historical Society site.  Volunteers replaced nearly a mile of fencing, cleared brush from 2.5 miles of trails, and repaired, built and painted 40 picnic tables.

“The landscape restoration project is something we would not have been able to do without this massive infusion of volunteers,” said Bob Quist, Oliver H. Kelley Farm historical site manager. “Fencing was the most labor-intensive activity for a farmer in the 19th century. This project gave volunteers a taste of history – and the satisfaction of work that will have a long-term impact on the community and the thousands of people who visit the farm every year.”

The project was the culmination of a year-long partnership between Honeywell and the high school’s Cooper Cares program, which challenges its student body to complete 10,000 hours of community service. Thousands of hours of student volunteer work, which also included an elementary school reading program and food shelf drive, were completed in partnership with Honeywell and its Honeywell Hometown Solutions corporate citizenship initiative.  This project also marks the 16th project completed locally through Rebuilding Together Twin Cities’ partnership with Honeywell.

Thank you to Honeywell and Robbinsdale Cooper High School for making this project a huge success!

 

2012 Shining Star Volunteer Is Tim Erkel

This month, we recognized the hard work, passion and dedication of Tim Erkel by naming him our 2012 Shining Star Volunteer.  Tim stepped in to serve as our Volunteer Coordinator after our AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator couldn’t complete his full term of service.  Tim has been volunteering with us on a full-time basis since mid February.  Thanks to his hard work and enthusiasm, we have been able to continue to recruit and coordinate volunteers and our volunteer base has grown.

Tim holds a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Classics from Macalaster College.  He also played football and ran track for Macalaster and has worked to leverage those relationships to recruit volunteers for Rebuilding Together.  Most recently, he worked as a Business Licensing intern for the City of Minneapolis.  He also interned with HOME Line, a nonprofit focused on renter’s rights, where he worked on public policy issues to help level the playing field between renters and landlords.

Tim loves that his volunteer work with Rebuilding Together has tangible results on people’s lives.  On his very first project, the homeowner came up to the volunteers and said that thanks to their efforts, he was going to be able to take a bath in his home for the first time in a year.  Tim feels passionately that his work with Rebuilding Together has a very real impact on people’s lives.

Our AmeriCorps Safe at Home Coordinator, Tyler White, said “Tim’s enthusiasm and energy really showcase the essence of the volunteer spirit. To work with him is a wonderful display of altruism, because I know that he strives towards the same goals and vision that everyone on staff does, yet he does this with no financial incentive. It is an honor to be in the company of such a great person and friend.”

Thank you Tim for everything you have done and continue to do to help homeowners in need!