I love volunteering for Rebuilding Together Peninsula because I feel like I am making a difference in the community with each house that I help repair. Each homeowner has a unique background and history, and show their gratitude in different yet meaningful ways. For example, one lady was so grateful that she cooked us an incredible meal and gave the volunteers scarves because our work meant so much to her. The incredible connection that Rebuilding Together Peninsula forges with the members of the community is wonderful to experience!
My name is Jaime Huerta and I am the President of the Serra High School Fathers' Club in San Mateo California. For the past 8 years our Fathers' club along with our sons (students at Serra High School) have been volunteering with Rebuilding Together Peninsula on their National Rebuilding Day in April. Rebuilding Together Peninsula National Rebuilding day is held every year. This past April more than 130 Serra Padres and their
dads delighted a 63-year-old single Mother, when they transformed her east Menlo Park
home into a tranquil oasis. Serra dads and sons spent two days hammering, sanding, painting, nailing and landscaping.
“All of the sore muscles were worth it when I saw the
excitement and gratitude on the homeowner’s face,” said Team
Captain and Serra Fathers' Club member John Chamberlain. “It was a blessing to be reminded of how much we have, and how we can make a difference for people who are not as fortunate. As a father, it was amazingly rewarding to be able to toil alongside my son and to see him work so hard to help someone in need. I was impressed by the enthusiasm, energy and passion that the Serra Padres brought to the job.”
“It was a great experience,” said freshman Sean Chamberlain.
“It was rewarding in the end to see how much of a change we
made to that house. Everyone came together to change one
person’s life.”
The home needed sewer repairs, interior and exterior paint, a new fence and gates, front porch railing, carpet, a furnace, thermostat and smoke detectors. The landscaping needed to be cleaned up, so we trimmed a redwood tree and removed two debris boxes full of
ivy. This is by far my favorite community project at Serra. It brings the Serra community
together to improve the home of a low income homeowner who is in need.
“This is the best form of community service that our boys
can do,” said Serra Special Events Coordinator Theresa Stoye. “Not only are they giving back, but they are also learning new skills and bonding with their dads. The fathers teach these boys important life skills, and this is how we help our Padres to become considerate young men.”
If it wasn't for Rebuilding Together Peninsula non profit organization, our young Serra men and their Dads would never have the opportunity to give back to their community and work with this great Non Profit Organization. RTP (Rebuilding Together Peninsula) has a fantastic staff that works great with our community and helping in any which way possible to make it a better and safer place for its citizens. This school year we are volunteering even more by helping with RTP "Safe at Home Project" where we take about 10-20 Dads and sons (students) and help once a month and take on a project in our community to make a homeowner home a safer place to live by taking care of unsafe areas within a home. We look forward to volunteering at Rebuilding Together Peninsula year round.
Sincerely.
Jaime Huerta
Serra High School Fathers' Club President
As a volunteer and contributor for twenty plus years, I have seen firsthand the impact that Rebuilding Together has had on communities where I have worked. We have renovated/repaired/rebuilt over 1600 homes, community centers and schools and have touched the lives of thousands of families and community members. I have found that the physical act of repairing their home is second to the emotional support they experience by someone who cares coming along side to help.
The staff of Rebuilding is a totally dedicated and devoted group of people, who not only care for the people we help, but, are devoted to the care and support of their volunteers. As a result we volunteers keep coming back year after year.
I retired from a very active position. Six weeks later my daughter called and said, "Dad, you're driving mom crazy! Get a job!
So I searched and searched, and finally landed at Rebuilding Together Peninsula. It is well managed, the people are terrific, and I find my volunteering very rewarding.
Jim Rochotte
Rebuilding Together gave us our home back. Our house is 70+ years old & needed more work than we could afford to do. RTP replaced our clogged plumbing. We were showing in our travel trailer. One person per day. Our windows all leaked, we got all new windows & 2 new doors. Our house was painted both inside & outside. They installed a ceiling fan for us. Rebuilding Together also built & installed a new fence & gate for our front yard. So my grandkids are safe in the front yard to play. With the new windows our electric & gas bills have decreased immensely! We can run our A/C daily if necessary. I can't say enough good about Cari Chen & the staff at RTP! Everyone is/was wonderful. We had a crew that cleaned out our backyard & the grandkids can play there too. Our dogs are also safer. I want to tell everyone who qualifies to receive their help, take it! Your life will be enriched one hundred fold! We are blessed to have been helped by RTP! Our lives have changed since being helped by RTP. Thank you Rebuilding Together Peninsula for all you did for us! C. J. Redman & family
Raychem/Tyco Electronics has been supporting this orgainzation for over 20 years. It has always been a very rewarding eperience for our employee volunterrs to particpate on National Rebuilding Day. The leadership and staff have always been "top notch". It is an honor and a privilege to be a Board Member!
I have worked with Rebuilding Together for National Rebuilding Day for the last 3 years. I have done work rebuilding and repainting local community centers, such as the Girls Club. The work is always challenging, but the staff is positive, and everyone works very efficiently. The moment that sums it up for me came last year, when we were repainting a living facility for seniors. One of the men who lived there came out on his balcony while we were painting it. He talked to us, showed us photos he had taken, and told us how much he appreciated our work. The best part about Rebuilding Together is seeing the change you can make in just one day.
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I have worked with Rebuilding Together Peninsula on National Rebuilding Day for the last three years. I have done work rebuilding and repainting community centers. The work is hard, but you can really see the difference you can make in only 6 to 8 hours. The moment that sums it up for me came last year, when I was helping to repaint a housing facility for seniors. One of the men who lived there came out onto his patio while we were painting it and told us how much he appreciated our help. He was genuinely grateful that we were helping to make his world a little brighter.
This organization allows people to really get their hands on a project that makes a difference in the lives of people in the community, with little or no skill and plenty of oversight and fun. On National Rebuilding Day, the last Saturday in April (or for a team building event year round) your organization can make the home of a neighbor in need warmer and safer and give them greater independence and comfort. It is amazing what 40 pairs of hands can do in one day at one home (and what can be done in one day at 75 sites around the area). This truly is about revitalization, recycling and reuse - not new construction. It's amazing. You should try it.