For Immediate Release

Neighborhoods Stabilized – Homes & Non-Profit Facilities Revitalized on National Rebuilding Day, April 25th

Rebuilding Together Boston Mobilizing 800 Volunteers to Assist Boston’s Residents and Non-Profits in Need

Boston, Mass. (April 25, 2009) - Rebuilding Together Boston (RTB) will hold its 18th annual National Rebuilding Day on April 25 to preserve affordable housing and home-ownership, support the work of local non-profits, and revitalize neighborhoods in the City. Some 800 skilled laborers and volunteers will engage in renovation projects providing economically disadvantaged homeowners -- and non-profit organizations that own their own facilities -- with critical repairs, modifications and energy efficient upgrades at no cost to them. Service recipients include low-income elderly, the physically challenged, families with children, military veterans, single and foster parents and others in need.

This year RTB is working with five homeowners and two non-profits in the Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, and Government Center neighborhoods. Below are a few stories of some of the homeowners and non-profit organizations that will be served by RTB on April 25:

• A 76-year-old homeowner who has lived in her house for 47 years where she raised five children. She spends most of her time taking care of her 46 year old son with special needs and who still lives with her, and she cares for two of her grandchildren.
• The Dorchester Nazarene Compassionate Care Center focuses on helping and educating Boston’s Haitian community. Some of their programs include HIV/AIDS prevention, ESL, computer classes and after-school programs.
• The New England Center for Homeless Veterans serves 1,000 veterans annually, providing services such as counseling, job training and medical treatment. They serve more than 220,000 meals each year and provide single room occupancy units.
• The homeowner has lived in this three-family home, passed down from generation to generation, for over 45 years. Her daughter and granddaughter (who has cerebral palsy) live on the first floor and she occupies the second floor. She raised three children and worked for 34 years.

“The efforts of Rebuilding Together Boston and their committed volunteers showcase the powerful results that coming together to lend a helping hand can achieve,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said.  “Their tireless dedication to improving the lives of individuals in need proves once again that Boston is more than a city of neighbor- hoods. We’re a city of neighbors.”

This year’s sponsors of RTB’s National Rebuilding Day include: Babson Capital Management, Booz Allen Hamilton, Builders Association of Greater Boston, Citizens Bank Foundation, Fidelity Investments, Grand Circle Corporation, Jacobs Family Foundation, LPL Financial, Sears Holdings/“Heroes at Home Program,” Shawmut Design and Construction, and Skanska USA Building.

“Rebuilding Together Boston provides solutions to the nation's housing crisis by stabilizing Boston’s neighborhoods where real estate values have been hardest hit,” said Meredith Rosenberg, Chair of RTB. “Our work focuses on those most in need who must often choose, for example, between making needed home repairs and buying food and medical supplies or paying a mortgage.”

Almost twenty years old, RTB is one of 200 affiliates across the U.S. who will be participating in the April 25 event. Nearly 4,000 homes or nonprofit community centers out of the annual goal of 10,000 will be repaired on this single day.

"National Rebuilding Day is our signature annual event,” said Gary Officer, CEO of the national office of Rebuilding Together (Washington, D.C.). “When the impact of our mission is immediately evident as thousands of homes are restored to safe, efficient, and livable conditions so that homeowners may continue to live independently and retain what is often their sole source of personal wealth."

To apply for Rebuilding Together Boston’s services, for more information about the organization, or to support RTB through a donation, call 617-971-0058.

About Rebuilding Together Boston:

Rebuilding Together Boston is an affiliate of the nation's largest non-profit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods by providing repair and renovation services at no cost to those in need. Through support from foundation and corporate sponsors, local businesses, skilled labor, and the hands-on work of 800-1,000 volunteers each year, Rebuilding Together Boston renovates and repairs homes and nonprofit facilities.

The types of work that RTB undertakes includes: interior and exterior painting; roofing; installation of new gutters; landscaping; replacing windows, doors and rotten wood trim; kitchen and bath renovations and repairs, often with the provision of new and/or energy efficient appliances; safety upgrades such as grab bars, smoke detectors, CO2 detectors and locks; building handicapped ramps; and, energy efficient installations, among other projects.

To date, the organization has completed major (often top to bottom) repairs to over 250 homes and facilities across the City of Boston. The market value of the work usually ranges from $60,000 to $80,000 in improvements per site. For each dollar contributed, RTB leverages four to six dollars in donated labor, supplies and equipment.