UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans Make a Difference for Minnesota’s Veterans

On Wednesday, July 30th, we partnered with volunteers from UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans to make improvements to the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis.  The Minnesota Veterans Home is dedicated to providing Minnesota’s veterans and their families with high-quality and dignified health care in a nurturing and engaging environment.

Volunteers spent the day building a weather-protected bus shelter, installing pavers in the picnic area, creating wheelchair-accessible areas on the grounds, doing general landscaping and installing a new flagpole. When the work was complete, a group of local veterans performed a flag-raising ceremony and enjoyed an ice cream social with the UnitedHealthcare volunteers, Minnesota Veterans Home residents and local public officials, including Minnesota Veterans Home Minneapolis Administrator, Cory Glad; Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner, Larry Shellito; Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Legislative Director Mike McElhiney, and First Lieutenant Andrea Kostiuk, a representative of the Minnesota Army National Guard, and other members of the National Guard,  Nichole Ly from Senator Al Franken’s office and Tim Cossalter from Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office.

Thank you to UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans for your continued partnership and support of our efforts to help veterans in need in our community!

Senator Franken Revisits Tornado-Damaged Home Repaired this Spring

We were thrilled to host Senator Franken last month, who visited the home of Ora Lee in North Minneapolis.  Ora Lee’s home was damaged by the tornado that hit North Minneapolis in May 2011, and Senator Franken visited the home this past spring as we were beginning to make repairs.  Ora Lee’s home has been completed, and Senator Franken joined us for a tour of her home.  Thank you to all of the volunteers who made this project possible and to Senator Franken for supporting our efforts to help homeowners like Ora Lee!

National Rebuilding Day Was a Huge Success!

Thanks again to the hundreds of volunteers who braved the rain to help 25 families in need on April 28th for National Rebuilding Day!  Thanks to your efforts, we were able to help homeowners like Erin, a proud owner of her Camden Neighborhood home.  Erin’s grandson recently began living with her, and because of the expense of taking care of him, she is not able to afford repairs to her home.  In her thank you note to the volunteers who worked with her, Erin wrote, “Thank you for allowing my house to become more of a home.”

We would also like to thank U.S. Senator Al Franken, who came out to meet volunteers and one of the homeowners we helped that day, as well as MN Housing Commissioner Mary Tingerthal, State Senator Linda Higgins, State Representative Bobby Joe Champion, Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels, and Rebecca Lucero from Congressman Keith Ellison’s office.

Finally, we would like to thank our sponsors and partners for National Rebuilding Day, including Wells Fargo, Builders Association of the Twin Cities Foundation, Honeywell, MidCountry Bank, US Bank, On Site Sanitation, Valspar, Catholic United Financial, Lowe’s, Caribou Coffee, Subway, CitiCargo & Storage, Target, The Big Day of Serving, Dunwoody College of Technology, Tree Trust, Mortenson Construction, Ironwood Carpentry, Neighborhood Improvement Program, American Public Media, Coca-Cola, Cookie Cart, Webster/Windsor Insulation and ABC Supply Company.