Volunteer Effort Fixes Up Homes For Those in Need

On Saturday, April 26, three homes owned by low-income senior citizens and their families were completely transformed by local volunteers who spent the day making over 100 home repairs and improvements. Activities included painting, performing electrical and plumbing repairs, cleaning up the yards, installing grab bars and other safety features.

Even through the snow, wind and sunshine, teams worked hard throughout the day to make sure the homeowners would be safe in their home. Many of the homeowners have lived in Thornton for over 20 years and can no longer perform these repairs themselves due to physical or financial limitations.

"Rebuilding Days" is administered by Rebuilding Together Metro Denver, a non-profit agency whose mission is to work in partnership with the community to rehabilitate the houses of low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, so that they may continue to live in warmth, safety and independence.

This nationwide event is the largest volunteer opportunity in the US and included 38 homes in the Denver area. For the City of Thornton, Rebuilding Days provides an exciting opportunity that truly brings the Thornton community together to help out those most in need.

Each home was sponsored by a different organization: City of Thornton staff, Keep Thornton Beautiful and the Denver North Metro Rotary. Team leads spent many hours in preparation for the big day including visiting with the homeowner, identifying which repairs would be done that day, what tools and materials were needed and helping to recruit volunteers. Special thanks to Kathy Hill, Ben Bartolini, Mary Savage, Mike Wilson, Susanna Sotelo and Max Math who served as the captains for each house.

This year’s event had over 80 volunteers including staff from the City of Thornton, local firefighters, Thornton businesses like Thornton Home Repair, honor students from Skyview High School and members of the Denver North Metro Rotary club. Over 700 volunteer hours were contributed which equaled to over $12,000 in in-kind labor. The homeowners were completely overwhelmed at the amount of work that was done on their home in just one day.

The next Rebuilding Days will be on October 4th, 2008. Applications are currently being taken for homes that could benefit from this program. For more information, please contact Rebuilding Together at 720-524-0840.