Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We at RTMC cannot thank this community enough!
Around 75 of our friends and neighbors spent much of their day volunteering on Saturday helping out others in our community.
Perfect weather helped us to be able to complete all the projects we had scheduled that day.
Keep an eye out for all the pictures that will be coming soon, and THANK YOU!
It’s time to mark your calendars and praying for sunshine!
National Rebuilding Day is Saturday, April 24.
For information on how to volunteer, feel free to message us directly, or visit https://rebuildingtogethermuscatine.org/volunteers/.
Did you ever wonder how Rebuilding Together Muscatine County came to be? Now you know.
April is National Rebuilding Together month. Watch here to see how you can help.
Looking for a way to support Rebuilding Together Muscatine County?
Here’s your chance!
When the Covid 19 quarantine began, everything, everywhere, came to a screeching halt.
Everything except need.
Need never takes a break.
One thing that the quarantine did very quickly, was to magnify where the need was the largest.
They called it “Food insecurities”.
feedingamerica.org defines food insecurities as “a household’s inability to provide enough food for every person to live an active, healthy life. Food insecurity is one way we can measure and assess the risk of hunger.”
With all businesses closed, and the inability to leave their homes, those affected, found themselves in worse condition than they were in before.
Rebuilding Together Muscatine County, like everyone else, had their ability to serve as usual, curtailed.
Rebuilding Together Muscatine County’s Executive Director, Frank Iliff, heard of this major need.
Looking to continue serving in the community, because “It Just Needs Done”, he began to seek where he could be the most help to the community.
Through his connections with United Way, he found that he could help in food delivery around town, redistributing overstock from HyVee and other local merchants to local food pantries.
MCSA, The Salvation Army food pantries have benefited from these deliveries, and many families have been helped through these efforts.
This Saturday, another opportunity will be made available to the public.
Rebuilding Together Muscatine County will partner with MCSA and the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box initiative.
All the details you need are as follows.
THIS SATURDAY – OCTOBER 24
Spread the word!
MCSA will be hosting a Free Food Box Distribution on Saturday 10/24.
Come get yours!
Locations & Times for Box Pick-Up:10am – 1pm.
Staff and volunteers will set up distribution stations at the following areas:
1pm – 4pm: Open community distribution at Crossroads, 1424 Houser Street.
This location is for folks who did not visit one of the other sites.
Please SHARE to get the word out to our community!
Remember when your momma told you that “Slow and steady wins the race”?
Well here at Rebuilding Together Muscatine County, we are taking that bit of wisdom to heart.
During the past month, RTMC has helped a homeowner with some gutter issues, assuring that their home will remain dry. We have also been able to supply a homeowner with a much-needed ramp for his home.
RTMC is being very cautious to abide by the current CDC guidelines for the COVID19 pandemic.
Slow is the most important part here. Slow enough to check what each guideline is, and how it can be met. Our goal is to keep our homeowners, and our volunteers safe.
Steady. Did I mention RTMC’s steady stream of financial donors? They are there. In the background. Every month. Quietly and steadily helping to keep RTMC running with their finances. We could not do what we do without them!
If you would like to join them, you can click the PayPal button in the top right-hand corner of the website.
Steady. The board of RTMC is steadily working behind the scenes with eyes toward expanding their reach to more of those requiring their services.
October 26 – 30, the board will be attending, via Zoom, the Rebuilding Together Training Institute.
They meet yearly to discuss different strategies for making Rebuilding Together affiliates nationwide more accessible and relevant to those it wishes to serve.
Getting together to share new ideas, and raise our sights is always an exciting time. Meeting via Zoom should be no different.
Winning the race!
Some things in life just happen, and you don’t see them coming. You get blindsided.
As with most of our new friends here at Rebuilding Together Muscatine County, these things happen, leaving people not knowing where to turn for help.
This is one such story.
This man’s beloved wife, although really quite young, had a stroke, and after going to the hospital for treatment, other complications arose, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.
Their home was not at all accessible at all for their newfound reality.
Not knowing where to turn, he called his friend State Senator Mark Lofgren.
Mark has stood behind Rebuilding Together Muscatine County since it’s inception, and in turn gave him information on how to contact us.
So after the contacts were made, the planning began in earnest.
Frank took one of our volunteers with him to visit the home, to see what needed to be done.
Not able to use the front door due to accessibility issues, it was determined that the ramp would need to go around to the back.
In order to keep in line with state and city codes, ramps need a certain amount of “drop” for each foot that they are tall.
These numbers caused this to be the biggest ramp ever created by Rebuilding Together Muscatine County.
RTMC uses a ramp system that does not typically need concrete footings.
Our ramps are such that when they are no longer needed, they are disassembled, and put back in storage to be used on other projects when the need arises.
Due to the size of this project, footings were mandatory – Friday was spent placing holes for the footings
Saturday morning dawned cool and bright. A perfect day for a ramp building.
After a good breakfast provided by a nearby church event, the volunteers were ready to get started.
Some of the volunteers had worked with us before and were well versed in what and how things needed to be done.
The ones who have never worked with us before came alongside and had a great learning experience.
This team was amazing; troopers all!
Typically, our food and snacks are provided for us by the local Pizza Ranch.
But on this day … this day the family of the folks we were building the ramp for, decided to provide everything we needed.
Ice cold water, sandwiches, cold salads, chips, drinks, and amazing desserts!
What a treat to have these things available all day to our team of volunteers.
Of course, not all volunteers could stay all day, so they kind of came in shifts, each staying as long as they were able.
We believe that if everyone does their part, then the whole job gets done!
There is always more to do on a job this size.
Some who were unable to help physically, took up donations to give to RTMC.
We do not charge for our work, but we never say no to donations either!
At the end of the day, the entire ramp was installed.
Some volunteers will return next Saturday to install the handrails, and reinforcements underneath the structure.
Thank you to all who helped in ANY way!
We love helping our community, because “It Just Needs Done!”
While the world seems to have ground to a halt by COVID19, your Rebuilding Together, although not actively doing any projects, has not ceased in it’s behind the scenes work.
We are actively spreading the word about what we do, and are still seeking grants, donations, and other forms of backing. In this way, when the world opens back up again – We’ll be ready!
Here is the latest impact statement from our corporate office;
Survey Finds Rebuilding Together’s Repair Work Positively Impacts Low-Income Families
Data indicate improvements for service recipients in areas of safety, physical health, mental health, independence, economic security, and community connection
July 06, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C., JULY 8, 2020 – Today, Rebuilding Together released the results of its pilot impact measurement survey designed to assess the effectiveness of the organization’s core practice model. Affiliates surveyed service recipients and conducted home assessments before and after repairs, using a checklist of 25 safe and healthy housing principles. The results indicate that work done by Rebuilding Together’s affiliates achieved positive outcomes across all categories included in the survey: safety, physical health, mental health, independence, economic security, and community connection.
Results from the survey included the following:
Seven in 10 neighbors who received repairs report low or no chance of falling.
Nearly two-thirds of neighbors who reported their health was less than good before repairs said their health improved after the repairs were completed.
Three in five neighbors who received repairs report feeling happier, and almost 90 percent of the most stressed respondents feel less stress about home repairs and maintenance after receiving repairs.
Nine in 10 neighbors who received repairs plan to age in place.
More than three-quarters of neighbors who received repairs plan to pass their properties down to family or friends.
Three in five neighbors who received repairs say their homes are now more valuable as an asset.
The full report can be viewed on Rebuilding Together’s website: https://rebuildingtogether.org/our-impact
“The results of Rebuilding Together’s impact measurement survey show home repairs enable our neighbors to stay in their homes safely, creating a ripple effect of positive change,” said Caroline Blakely, president & CEO of Rebuilding Together. “A safe and healthy home strengthens our mental and physical health, fosters independence, increases upward mobility, and causes community connection to thrive. We’re encouraged to see that the survey results speak to the efficacy of our mission and will continue to follow these indicators in the years to come.”
To measure the impact on homeowners themselves, Rebuilding Together affiliates surveyed the clients they served in five months. The survey asked about changes they may have experienced since repairs were made. The project was executed throughout 2019 in partnership with external evaluator Actionable Insights.
Well today – April 25 – is National Rebuilding Together Day.
The year 2020 will go down in history for the COVID19 virus.
Many things have been postponed or cancelled.
In America where Rebuilding Together resides, and literally every where else on the planet.
We are not able to have our National Rebuilding Together Day today.
But we can give a shout out to our volunteers.
They come and they sign up
They get their instructions.
Whether it’s inside;
Or outside in the rain.
They get the job done.
And smile when it’s over!
We could not do what we do with out all of you!
Today we celebrate YOU!
We hope to see you in the fall!
