Oct 19 2009
Hundreds of Houston-area volunteers will put on work gloves, pick up paint brushes and grab hammers to give 85 homes in low-income areas a facelift through Rebuilding Together - Houston’s (RT - H) annual fall Volunteer Home Repair Program work campaign.
Volunteers from RT - H’s partners - local companies, churches and schools - will make needed repairs ranging from painting and replacing siding, to safety and door repairs to help low-income and elderly homeowners. The work takes place Oct. 16-18 and Oct. 23-24.
Houston’s Annual Fall Volunteer Home Repair Program Work Campaign
“Our partners and volunteers make it possible for us to help deserving homeowners with repairs they cannot afford to do themselves,” said Rebuilding Together - Houston Executive Director, Bob Conklin. “We really value the local support we receive because it allows us to continue to revitalize low-income homes and communities in the greater Houston area at no charge to our clients. Each year up to 275 sponsored volunteer crews complete external home repairs extending the life of the home and enabling clients to live in their homes for a while longer.”
RT - H partners Reliant Energy and NRG Energy will provide about 150 employee volunteers for RT - H’s fall work effort Oct. 16-17 to help restore three low-income homes in Houston’s Pleasantville neighborhood. Since 2002, Reliant, NRG Energy and their employees have worked with RT - H to repair the homes of more than 50 low-income homeowners. In addition, Reliant worked with RT - H to make energy efficiency upgrades to more than 1,200 homes in low-income Houston neighborhoods through the Reliant Acres Homes and PowerHouse programs, which launched March 2006.
“Contributing to the communities we serve is important to everyone at Reliant Energy. Our relationship with RT - H is one of the ways we - as a company and as individuals - put that into action,” said Reliant Energy President Jason Few. “We’re excited this year to work along side NRG Energy, whose corporate family we just joined earlier this year. The impact that RT - H has on the Houston area is significant and I’m proud of our employee volunteers and their commitment to the community and RT - H.”
The annual fall work effort is one of several RT - H programs that have helped restore and improve more than 16,000 homes in the greater Houston area since RT - H’s inception in 1982. RT – H’s Volunteer Home Repair Program, such as the fall work effort, alone has helped refurbish almost 5,500 low-income Houston homes. Other RT - H programs include Roofs Over Houston, Interior Repair, Safer Home and Energy Efficiency.
In addition to Reliant and NRG Energy, RT - H works with many other corporations and organizations to improve and restore homes in the greater Houston area, such as the Center for Faith and Health Initiatives, CenterPoint Energy, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, First Data, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Harris County Housing Finance Corporation, Houston Housing Finance Corporation, Pasadena Independent School District, Home Depot and U.M. Army.
Source: http://www.rebuildingtogetherhouston.org/