Thanks To…

Taylor – One of our long-time, dedicated, regular volunteers.  Thanks for being awesome!

Student group from Jennings Community Learning Center in St. Paul, especially instructors Tom Wendt and Zach Fielsted – who partnered with us to start a repair project for a Saint Paul homeowner in need.

Stephanie Lipetzky, Ken Tillges, Taylor Winscher, Tess Cooper, Terza Kurki – for attending our Safe at Home training.

Ken Tillges, Stephanie Lipetzky, Tess Cooper, and Paul Tolzmann – special shout out for being our new Safe at Home volunteers!

Melody Oakes and Anna Krech – Student interns from St. Kate’s helping us to develop an evaluation process for our Access for Always program.

Kristin Weise and Jeff Walker from The Opus Group – special thanks for supporting the projects throughout the day!

RAMP crew – Huge thanks to Armand Peterson, Bill Berschnieder, Paul Parrish, and George Johnson for their help in previewing and designing projects.

MidCountry Bank – Thanks to Greg Krenz, Jim Herbert, Cami Sonnenburg and Branch Managers throughout the MidCountry Bank Network for supporting Brewing, Banking and Bidding to Rebuild Together at Lift Bridge Brewing Company’s Townie Tuesday Event 4/28.

Partnership Spotlight: Saint Catherine University’s Occupational Therapy Program

We want to highlight one of our long-time partners, Saint Catherine University’s Occupational Therapy program.  We have an established partnership with this program through which 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. The students make  for safety and making recommendations for safety and modifications designed to reduce the risk of falls and other injuries. Our volunteers then 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 who are older adults or are living with a disability and. It also 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 Saint Catherine University 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.

We would like to recognize Catherine Sullivan, Ph.D., OTR/L and Associate Professor, who has been instrumental in the development and cultivation of this relationship.  She recently said of our Program Director, Tony Sjogren, “Thanks again for all your time and positive energy. Students could see your passion for helping people who are under-served in the community and clearly were moved to do the same.”

We are proud of this partnership with Saint Catherine University and look forward to continuing to our 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!

Thanks To….

Honeywell Retired Volunteer Program – Rebuilt stairs for a Minneapolis homeowner on October 16th.

DCMA – Installed railings, a washer and dryer, and a stove and patched and repaired drywall and exterior flashing for a South Minneapolis homeowner on October 18th.

Rimage Corp – Made energy efficiency improvements, including installing water heater blanket, insulating pipes and weatherstripping doors and windows on October 18th.

Journeyman Volunteers – Learned how to make energy efficiency improvements on October 25th.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance – Helped organize our warehouse and made a gift for our homeowners – a green Rebuilding Together birdhouse plaque!

Young Professionals of Minneapolis – Helped a South Minneapolis homeowner in need on October 27th.

Students Today, Leaders Forever – Helped organize our warehouse and make birdhouses on November 10th.

St. Kate’s Occupational Therapy students – Helped with Safe at Home previews throughout the month.

ATK – Continued to work on the renovation project for the transitional housing shelter run by the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans on October 26th.

Thanks To….

City Church volunteers who came out on September 22nd to make energy efficiency improvements for homeowners in South Minneapolis.

Wells Fargo volunteers who came out on October 3rd to help three Twin Cities families.

St. Kate’s Occupational Therapy students who volunteered their time to help us with assessments and previews for our Safe at Home program.

Journeymen Volunteers who joined us on September 27th to learn more about some of the tasks we complete through our Safe at Home program.