Posts Tagged 'rehab'
[Adapted from an article in The Farmington-Farmington Hills Patch by Joni Hubred-Golden. Read the full article here.]
Jim and Lisa Smith have lived in their Farmington Hills home for many years, and they knew the time was coming when they might not be able to stay there. Water leaking from the roof had damaged the home’s interior; exterior buildings needed paint; and the windows needed replacing. While the Smiths had always done everything on their own, for the first time, they needed help.
 During the past month, Rebuilding Together Oakland has provided that help. With a grant from the Sears Heroes at Home program, which supports military veterans, active-duty service personnel and their families, the nonprofit organization martialed an army of volunteers to give the Smiths’ home a new lease on life.
“This gift is gonna allow me … the ability to stay here,” an overwhelmed Jim Smith said Saturday. He spoke to more than 30 volunteers who were preparing to put some of the finishing touches on home repairs. Among the volunteers were State Representative Vicki Barnett (37-Farmington Hills), U.S. Representative Gary Peters (9-Bloomfield Twp.), and Oakland County Commissioner Jim Nash.
Volunteer Dan Harmon said Rebuilding Together is a national group with 200 affiliates that focus on rebuilding or rehabilitating homes for low-income, senior citizen or military veteran homeowners, among others. The program follows federal income guidelines but also takes other factors, such as medical bills, into consideration in choosing projects. The Smith family certainly qualifies on the military front; in addition to Jim Smith’s Army service, son Michael served with the Navy in the Persian Gulf, and son John is a Marine currently stationed overseas.
On Saturday, volunteers worked on 50 homes in Oakland County, including 11 in Farmington Hills. Many of the projects started and stopped on the same day, Harmon said, but the Smiths’ home took a little longer.
“We’ve been here about four weeks,” he said. “Each house has a captain, a co-captain and a site coordinator, and they visit with the homeowner about the scope of the work. The homeowner signs off on the plan. … Anything we start in a home, we finish.” For the Smiths, that meant window replacements done by Hanson’s, a refurbished kitchen and bathroom, repair of water damage — including drywall and painting — as well as scraping and painting sheds and some landscaping.
Rep. Peters presented Smith with a flag flown over the Capitol building in Washington, and he also went to work scraping paint. “This is my third year,” Peters said. “I got involved when we learned about what (the organization) was doing. This represents the best of community action. It’s neighbors helping neighbors … reminiscent of the barn-raisings of past generations.”
On July 7, House minority Floor Leader, Kate Segal (62-Battle Creek), lent a hand with along with a staff member from Speaker Bolger’s office and many other volunteers. The crew worked on a total gut rehab at two homes in Battle Creek.
 
On Friday, August 12, Rep. Rick Olson (55-Saline) joined Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley to help with one of their builds at 1256 S. Harris. He had the opportunity to work alongside a crew from Johnson Controls, a local company who is sponsoring the project and providing all of the volunteer labor.
Megan Rodgers, Development Associate for Habitat of Huron Valley, was very impressed with the representative’s willingness to help out. “He contacted me last Monday and ended up coming out to our project on Friday. He worked hard the whole day, from 8am-4pm, and was just awesome!”
The house at 1256 S. Harris is a formerly foreclosed home in the Nancy Park neighborhood. This single story, 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 car garage home is receiving new siding, doors, drywall, cabinetry, flooring, mechanicals and a roof, and will be renovated to Energy Star standards, saving the new homeowners an average of $800/yr in utility bills.
Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley (HHHV) is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization that works to provide affordable home ownership opportunities for hardworking and deserving families in Washtenaw County. With the help of thousands of supporters, they have helped nearly 100 families in their community achieve the dream of affordable home ownership.
[This story was adapted from an article by Fritz Klug from mlive.com. To view the original article and additional pictures, click here.]
Hammers, nails, aluminum siding and local politicians. On Tuesday, August 9, Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker (20-Lawton) and Rep. Sean McCann (60-Kalamazoo) volunteered with Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity, where they helped refurbish a house on Holland Street in Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood.
The legislators joined about 30 other volunteers to work on the home. Sha’na Cole and her five-year-old daughter Khamanni Boyd will be moving into the house in September or October.
Earlier in the summer, Rep. Margaret O’Brien (61-Portage) volunteered with the Women Build project in Kalamazoo.
Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity became an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International in 1983. The first home, a rehabilitation project on Kalamazoo’s north side, was completed in December 1984. Today, KVHH has helped more than 160 motivated, low-income families build and buy homes in partnership with the community.
 On July 8, Rep. Woodrow Stanley joined Genesee County Habitat for Humanity to help with their “A Brush with Kindness” program. Genesee County Habitat for Humanity has been working in the Grand Traverse Neighborhood, which is just west of downtown Flint, for the past 3 years. In that time they have worked on 15 homes, including 3 A Brush With Kindness projects, 2 full renovations of vacant homes and 10 new builds. The “A Brush With Kindness” program seeks to help existing homeowners by doing exterior or façade type repairs.
The project Rep. Stanley helped with was at the home of the longest residing resident of the neighborhood, who has lived there 72 years. At the project site, Rep. Stanley helped tear out an existing back deck that was falling down and left the homeowner with just one exit at the front of the house. This was the first day of working on this particular house. Future work will include repainting the exterior of the house and rebuilding the deck that was torn out.
 The A Brush With Kindness program is a key step in Genesee Habitat’s neighborhood revitalization project in the Grand Traverse Neighborhood because it is helping existing homeowners who were there far before new homes were being built in the neighborhood. “We feel that by working with those existing homeowners it only strengthens the ties of the community and helps make more neighbors look out for each other,” said Genesee Habitat’s Program Coordinator Ryan Johnson.
Genesee County Habitat for Humanity is a Christian housing ministry, affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International, but controlled locally. It is made up of people who volunteer their time and work to provide decent, affordable homes for persons who could not otherwise afford to buy a home. Habitat is financed through donations of money and materials. Houses are sold at no profit, and no interest, typically over a 20 year period.
[This is the story published by Huron Valley Habitat for Humanity. To view the story on their website, click here.]
Representative David Rutledge and his staff rolled up their sleeves, donned a pair of safety glasses, and worked on one of our local renovation projects this past Saturday, July 23, 2011. Rutledge and his staff volunteered with us as part of the Legislators Building Communities Program, a summer-long opportunity for state legislators to participate in service projects that strengthen neighborhoods in their districts.
The Legislators Building Communities Program is a way for legislators to learn more about housing and community development activities in their district while volunteering. It’s a chance for community members to begin or strengthen a relationship with their elected officials. And it is an initiative of the Living in Michigan Coalition, a broad network of housing and community development practitioners.
Representative Rutledge and his team worked alongside members of Team Toyota, who are sponsoring the project at 570 Woodlawn in Ypsilanti. This is the fourth year that Toyota has partnered with our organization to sponsor a house renovation project, and is also providing all of the volunteer labor for the project.
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During the past month, Rebuilding Together Oakland has provided that help. With a grant from the Sears Heroes at Home program, which supports military veterans, active-duty service personnel and their families, the nonprofit organization martialed an army of volunteers to give the Smiths’ home a new lease on life.
