Teaming Up with Honeywell to Make a Difference at the Sunshine Foundation’s Dream Village

We were thrilled to partner with Honeywell to coordinate a community service project at the Sunshine Foundation’s Dream Village in Davenport, Florida last month.  The Sunshine Foundation’s sole purpose is to answer the dreams of chronically ill, seriously ill, physically challenged and abused children, ages three to eighteen, whose families cannot fulfill their requests due to the financial strain that child’s illness may cause.  The Dream Village is a 22-acre resort nestled in a fairy tale setting and offers amenities and activities, all specially designed to be accessible for wheelchairs and other special needs.  Guests at the Dream Village enjoy the theme parks and attractions nearby and return each day to relax in their cottage.  Since its opening, the Dream Village has welcomed over 20,000 children.

Our Construction Supervisor Dave Christensen and his wife Nancy helped plan, coordinate and carry out this project.  They supervised volunteers from Honeywell who completed a therapeutic riding arena, including building a small barn and shade structure for horses, building a fence around the arena perimeter, building a shade structure for playground area and landscaping.

Dave said of the volunteers, “The Honeywell crew was amazing and very enthusiastic. We had to make them stop at the end of the day. They wanted to keep going.  It was a GREAT event!”

The project at the Dream Village was just one of three community service projects completed by Honeywell volunteers on January 18th.  In addition to the project at the Sunshine Foundation’s Dream Village, volunteers completed service projects at the Eatonville Police Station and Denton Johnson Community Center.  Honeywell held its annual sales kickoff meeting in Orlando that week and completed these service events as a thank you to the hosting region.  Approximately 150 volunteers infused more than 600 hours into the community, and Honeywell contributed approximately $23,000 to Rebuilding Together Affiliates to fund these projects.

Dave Christensen Receives Staff Member of the Year Award

We are proud to announce that our Construction Manager, Dave Christensen, was recently awarded the Staff Member of the Year Award by the national Rebuilding Together affiliate network. This award, which is given out annually at Rebuilding Together’s national conference, recognizes one staff member from the affiliate network who exemplifies service excellence, leadership and innovation in their efforts to help homeowners in need live independently in safe and healthy homes.

Dave joined the Rebuilding Together Twin Cities’ staff in 2009.  As the Construction Supervisor, Dave is responsible for the general contracting and oversight of all home repair projects.  Dave previews projects, develops work scopes, determines volunteer and contracted labor needs, pulls permits and ensures local building codes are adhered to, and works to make sure that projects are completed within budget and time constraints.  In addition to his role as Construction Manager, Dave also works as an adjunct instructor at Dunwoody College of Technology.

“We are thrilled that Rebuilding Together, Inc. has recognized Dave Christensen with this award,” said Kathy Greiner, Executive Director for Rebuilding Together Twin Cities.  “Dave’s experience as a social worker, small business owner and skilled jack-of-all-trades handyman has proven invaluable to our efforts to help more homeowners in need in the Twin Cities.”

Congratulations Dave!