Look Before You Leap is a statewide public education campaign that empowers homeowners to spot deceptive scams and protect their home.  Led by the Minnesota Home Ownership Center in partnership with NeighborWorks America and other organizations from across Minnesota, including Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, Look Before You Leap offers trusted, legitimate foreclosure and credit counseling to homeowners for free.  For more information, please visit the Look Before You Leap website at http://www.lookbeforeyouleap.org/.

The homeowner, Miriam, is 89 years old and has lived in her house for 33 years.  In her thank you card to volunteers, Miriam wrote, “Many thanks for all your hard work! May the Lord bless you for all your kindness.”  Thanks again to the volunteer team from Padilla Speer Beardsley who came out to help this homeowner in need!

The homeowner, Donald, has lived in his home for 18 years and currently resides there with his sister, Marian.  Both Donald and Marian struggle with health issues.  While Donald takes great pride in his home and would like to remain in his home for the rest of his life, he has not been able to keep up with necessary repairs.

On July 24^th, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities partnered with a volunteer team from the Minnesota Architectural Foundation to finish the front porch and make other minor repairs.  Rebuilding Together Twin Cities also partnered with a team of volunteers from Cross of Glory church on July 31^st to paint and seal the front porch, completing this home repair project.

In the thank you card Donald and Marian gave to those volunteers, they wrote, “Thank you for the wonderful gift.  The gift of knowing that there are great people out there that care for others.  And that the golden rule actually exists!  The years may come and go, and first names may be forgotten, but your love, kindness and generosity will always be remembered in our hearts.  Please accept our heartfelt thank you.  God bless each and every one of you.”

Thanks again to all of the volunteers who worked so hard to help Donald and Marian and thanks to Lowe’s for sponsoring these repairs!

The mission of the Maxfield Magnet Elementary School, which has been in the Rondo community of St. Paul for over a hundred years, is to inspire and challenge every student to achieve their fullest potential.  Principal Nancy Stachel expressed her thanks to the team from Honeywell.  She wrote, “On behalf of the students, families, staff, and volunteers that are a part of the Maxfield community I thank you so much for your generosity.  By giving your time and energy you have sent the message to our students that they matter; that people care about them and believe in them.  The courtyard area that you worked to prepare and clean out is something each member of our community sees everyday as they move through the school…You’ve started the process of bringing it back to being an area of pride.”

Thanks to the team from Honeywell for spending a Saturday volunteering at the Maxfield School!

To read the full report, click here.

America will vote for the best video explaining what you would do with One Billion Points from Sears – the winner will receive up to 500 million points to redeem at Sears, Kmart and other participating retailers; the other half can be split between Sears’ participating charity and a charity of your choice.

Go to the website to get contest details and also learn more about Shop Your Way Rewards. 

Home and Garden Television (HGTV) recently aired a commercial featuring Carter Oosterhouse that focuses on raising awareness and funds for the ongoing efforts in the Gulf Coast.  To view the commercial, click here. 

Want to get involved? 
Consider texting “BUILD” to 85944 to donate $10 to Rebuilding Together, following our efforts in New Orleans on our Facebook page, and spreading the word about homeowners affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who are still in need of assistance.

More than 220 volunteers contributed over 1,400 hours to help Charles return to his home.  In addition to the financial support from Wells Fargo and the U.S. Administration on Aging, several other organizations have contributed to this project:  Warners’ Stellian donated appliances for Charles’ kitchen and laundry room; a team from Metro Paint-a-Thon painted the exterior of Charles’ home; the Minneapolis Center for Independent Living partnered with Rebuilding Together Twin Cities to install a safe and usable wheelchair ramp; and Bridging donated the furnishings for Charles’ home.

To thank the volunteers and sponsors that made it possible for Charles to live in his home again, Rebuilding Together Twin Cities hosted a community celebration on June 30th at the Capri Theatre in North Minneapolis.  Charles, a vocalist with the Capri Big Band, gave a fantastic concert with the Band.  Thank you to everyone who volunteered on this project and came out to celebrate!  A special thank you to the Capri Big Band for performing for the volunteers and supporters!

Michaela, who served as the Volunteer Coordinator, is moving to Saratoga Springs, New York with her husband.  They are expecting their first child in October.  Michaela will continue to be involved with Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, working part-time on communications and marketing for RTTC.

Meghan, RTTC’s Safe at Home Coordinator, will stay on as the Safe at Home Coordinator throughout the summer to continue to oversee the program and train the next AmeriCorps Safe at Home Coordinator.  In October, Meghan is planning to travel in South America with her boyfriend for a couple of months.

Patty, who served for two years as the Warehouse and Project Coordinator, has accepted a position as a field engineer with M.A. Mortenson Company.  She will be working in their Renewable Energy Division.  Patty plans to continue volunteering with Rebuilding Together Twin Cities, as well as other Rebuilding Together affiliates across the country as she travels in her new position.

We have been incredibly fortunate to have Michaela, Meghan and Patty serve with us over the last year.  Their professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm have proven invaluable and the programs have grown tremendously due to their efforts. Thank you again for your service.  You will be missed!

The new Board President, Angie Joyce, served as the Vice-President of the Board during Phil’s term.  Angie has been on the Board of Directors for RTTC since 2006, and she works as a Wholesale Production Manager for MidCountry Bank.

Dan Norman, who works for the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, will serve as Vice President.  Steven Fredrickson of The Lucidity Group will serve as Treasurer.  Finally, Vicki Hooper, who works for HGA Architects, will serve as Secretary.

In addition to the new Executive Committee, five new members have joined the Board of Directors: 

Kari Davis, Greater Twin Cities United Way
Bart Foreman, Group 3 Marketing
Ben Lampron, Honeywell
Paul Melblom, Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle Architects
Annette Rodriguez, Ecumen Foundation