House in Progress Diary

National Rebuilding Day

I celebrated National Rebuilding Day by crawling out of bed at 5:30 am last Saturday morning, tossing my toolbelt into the back of the Subaru station wagon, and limping through a coffeehouse drive-thru where my barista was WAY too cheerful for such an early hour. What do they put in THEIR lattes? Is it legal? Because I want whatever it is.

National Rebuilding Day is on the last Saturday in April each year and it brings together thousands of volunteers to complete home repair projects in one day. Teams are made up of folks who bring a variety of skills to the house that they are working on and we tackle everything needed, all at once. It's fun, it's a worthwhile community project, and you get to work alongside of skilled tradespeople if you choose to, which I did and I learned a lot. (Check to see if there is a Rebuilding Together affiliate in your city.)

The project is sponsored by Rebuilding Together, a not-for-profit organization which improves the homes and neighborhoods of elderly, disabled and low-income residents so that they may continue to live in warmth, safety and comfort. They are working hard to also respond to the needs of the victims of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, and injured military veterans who need home modifications in order to live safely and in dignity in their current homes.

I have many people to thank for making the day a fun and rewarding one, not to mention educational! For example:

To REMY...philosopher, carpenter, teacher. Thanks to you, I did not cut off my fingers in the table saw and I know the proper use of a cow pill. (You tie it to your tool belt and use it to pick up dropped nails, of course.)

To TONY...house captain extraordinaire. Who kept his cool in every situation and remained patient with us all throughout. You rocked the house. Seriously.

To THE BOSS...for keeping everything lighthearted and moving along. I know you said, "Hey, I'm the jobsite boss. I usually never touch a tool!" to make us THINK that you didn't know one end of a hammer from the other. But we could tell that you totally knew what you were doing.

And to everyone from Cuyler Covenant in Chicago--Lenore for organizing this, AJ for motivation and support, Jesse who kept me awake by riding shotgun in the Subaru, Micah for tackling that upstairs door replacement with me, Anuj, Marissa, Heath, Thais, Rolf, Laura, Ryan, John and Ed.

You're all going to be over at our house next Saturday, right? To put the ceiling back in the living room? Just checking...

p.s. Also, thanks to Aaron for babysitting Miss Grace so I could take off for the day with my hammer. I owe you one!

Posted by jeanne on April 30, 2007 at 7:48 AM (1)