New Partnership with Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation

We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with the Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation.  Through this partnership, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities and the Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation will make repairs to the homes of three North Minneapolis families.  One of the families that will receive assistance through this partnership is a homeowner named Erin, who is the primary caregiver of her two year old grandson.  Erin has not been able to keep up with repairs to her Camden neighborhood home and has received citations from the City of Minneapolis.  Volunteers from Ironwood Carpentry, a member of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, will make repairs to ensure that Erin and her grandson can live safely in their home.

“We’re very excited to begin a new partnership with Rebuilding Together Twin Cities and know that by pooling our strengths and efforts we can accomplish more together than either of us can alone,” said Sara Anderson, Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation chair.  “With the help of our Builder Partner, Ironwood Carpentry, LLC, a Builders Association of the Twin Cities member, we will be tackling three projects for local families in need.”

Thanks to the Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation for helping us make sure that more Twin Cities homeowners can live independently in safe and warm homes!

Warehouse Madness

On March 3rd, volunteers from the Macalaster Football Team, Minnesota Conservation Corps, and EMC Insurance descended on our warehouse to help us build shelving and organize our materials and tools in preparation for National Rebuilding Day on April 28th.  Thank you to everyone who came out that day and thanks to EMC Insurance for sponsoring this project!

Spring Break Spent Helping a North Minneapolis Homeowner

For the second year in a row, we were thrilled to host students from Central Michigan University who spent their spring break helping a North Minneapolis homeowner named Ora Lee.  Ora Lee’s home, which she has lived in for nearly 50 years, was damaged by the tornado that hit North Minneapolis last spring. Volunteers from Central Michigan University spent several days scraping paint and priming walls and trim, in preparation for volunteers to do additional work at Ora Lee’s home in the coming weeks.

The Central Michigan University volunteers also spent a day going door-to-door in the West 7th neighborhood of Saint Paul to hand out information about our Safe at Home program, which provides minor home safety and accessibility modifications for homeowners in need who are older adults or individuals living with a disability.

THANK YOU to the awesome volunteers from Central Michigan University!  We look forward to spending spring break with you again next year!

AmeriCorps Adventures: Making a Difference for Pittsburgh Homeowners

AmeriCorps Adventures: Making a Difference for Pittsburgh Homeowners

One of the primary advantages to living in Minnesota is that pretty much every place else is warmer in January.  So, when I learned that this year’s Martin Luther King work week was going to be held in Pittsburgh, I was actually pretty excited.  Not only was this going to be an opportunity to meet up with the rest my AmeriCorps class, many of whom I hadn’t seen since our August orientation, but it was also a chance to explore “America’s Most Liveable City.”

The first night in Pittsburgh, we got our assignments and teams for the weeks.   I was pleased to see that I would be at the same home the whole week.  We were going to be painting, hanging drywall, replacing flooring, and making other fairly light cosmetic repairs.  When we got to the home, things changed.  What was originally supposed to be a fairly limited workscope, expanded to include replacing the entire kitchen.  We were only able to fit about four people in the kitchen at once, so the whole task was pretty daunting.  Fortunately, the Rebuilding Together affiliate in Pittsburgh had done a great job of recruiting skilled volunteers to help out at each home, so we worked under the watchful eye of Donnie, our Team Leader.  While we were working in the kitchen, the other half of our team was upstairs.  We had to replace the floor, fix the ceiling in the stairwell, and paint the hall and entryway.  Between all of us, we made pretty short work of that.

By the end of the week, the entire kitchen from the baseboards to the ceiling was new: new paint, new sink, new stove, new cabinets, and a new floor.  The upstairs looked fantastic.  It was also a great opportunity to see how the Pittsburgh affiliate pulled together that many projects.  Together, the AmeriCorps members completed a dozen home repair projects that week.  As we get ready for National Rebuilding Day, this experience will be helpful as we get our projects lined up for April 28th.

To me, the most impressive thing about the entire project was the way the team worked together to make sure the work got finished, but also to make sure that nobody got too burned out.  These were full days, and the work was not easy.  But each member of the team made sure that everyone’s spirits stayed high.  There were jokes, snacks, Beyonce, and power tools.  All in all, it was a great way to reunite with the August class of AmeriCorps members and meet the January class.

By Alex Rosselli, AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator