Thanks To…

Steve Ivancic – We would like to give a special shout out to one of our amazing Safe at Home volunteers! Steve is one of our “three musketeers” and he has been instrumental in helping many of our clients live more independently and safely in their homes. He has “retired” from volunteering because he recently accepted a new job. We just wanted to say THANKS for all that you’ve done and best of luck on this next chapter! We will miss you!

Kaironn – Our summer student intern – please join us in welcoming him to the team!

2015 Age and Disabilities Odyssey

Last month, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities staff and our friends from St. Catherine University traveled to Duluth for the 2015 Age and Disabilities Odyssey.  Through our partnership with the Occupational Therapy Program at St. Kate’s, we collaborate on service-learning projects that involve graduate occupational therapy (OT) students evaluating the homes of low-income older adults and individuals living with a disability for safety. Students then make recommendations for modifications designed to reduce the risk of falls and other injuries. Our volunteers make the modifications that are within the scope of our programs.  This partnership provides students with a hands-on learning experience that enables them to directly work with low-income clients and provides the homeowners we help with more comprehensive accessibility modification services that are truly tailored to their individual needs.  With the support of a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, we recently expanded our partnership with St. Kate’s to create and implement an assessment tool in order to measure the effectiveness of our services and adjust them, as needed, to better align with the needs of our clients.  The Age and Disabilities Odyssey gave us an opportunity to share some of the findings of our collaborative efforts with a broader audience.

Our Development Officer Brent Suski, who has been instrumental in expanding this partnership, said, “The Odyssey was a great opportunity for Rebuilding Together Twin Cities and St. Catherine University to celebrate and share the great work that we have been doing throughout the Twin Cities to keep homeowners safe and independent in their homes.  We had the opportunity to make many connections with service providers throughout Minnesota.”

We are proud of our partnerships with St. Kate’s and the Minnesota Department of Human Services and look forward to continuing to work together to help low-income homeowners who are older adults or are living with a disability age-in-place successfully and live more safely and independently in their homes!

Fredrikson and Byron Help Two Homeowners in Need

On July 13th, ten volunteers from Fredrikson and Byron helped us paint Robert’s home in Saint Paul.  Their hard work really brightened up his house and the entire block.  We also partnered with nine volunteers on July 14th to help Kristine, a hard-working nurse who has recently fallen on hard times and was cited by the City for the chipping paint on her garage. Volunteers removed chipping paint and repainted Kristine’s garage and build a new paint shelf for our warehouse. Together, we were able to help Robert and Kristine with much-needed maintenance at their homes.  Thanks to the volunteers from Fredrikson and Byron for their hard work!