April 28, 2015
During the course of the year I am responsible for corresponding with a lot of people and organizations, some with good news and some not so good. This type of letter is my favorite to send. I get to tell the city of Muscatine and the surrounding communities what a great place this is to work, play and raise a family.
On Friday April 24th a group of people from Kent Corp came to a home on Jackson Street and tore off the existing roof and replaced it with a new one. Sounds simple, right? Well not quite, the one that was on the house was leaking but with many ideas and suggestions a solution was reached and the work was 98% finished before the rain came down.
At the same time this roofing job was being done, just up the street a sun shield was being built over the deck belonging to an senior, vision impaired lady that couldn’t use the deck because the sun burns her. The guys from Kent Corp designed and built a frame work and covered it with fiberglass panels that let in the light but keep out the harmful rays of the sun.
This is the second year Kent Corp and Rebuilding Together Muscatine County have worked together to help low income families. The crew from Kent Corp, some engineers, some plant workers, some office workers and I don’t know where all come to the job sites with a can-do attitude and they simply get the job done. It is a pleasure to work with such a great bunch of people. Their ability to assess the situation and carry it through to completion is fun to watch.
While these two projects were being done in close proximity to each other there was a third taking place. Half a dozen men from Van Meter Industries (VMI) were at the home of a lady whose front porch/deck was in need. They had to remove the structure that was there and build one from the ground up. After discussing what had to be done they tore off the old one, dug the holes and built the new one on the same footprint but one that is much stronger and safer for her.
This is the first time this group from Van Meter Industry has worked with RTMC but I hope it isn’t the last.
Part of my job is finding the right job/project for the right group but with the two corporations we had the pleasure of working with this time I would be hard pressed to find something they wouldn’t tackle. Just because they hadn’t done something like this before is no reason not to jump in, figure it out and carry it through.
The teamwork of both of these companies is evident in the way they worked together.
Thank you to Rich Dwyer from Kent Corp and Bob Estabrook from Van Meter Industries for bringing your people to a RTMC project to help people that couldn’t afford to have done what we all accomplished on Friday April 24th, 2015.
Frank Iliff
Executive Director
Rebuilding Together Muscatine County
1424 B Houser Street
Muscatine, Iowa 52761
Leadership Muscatine Class of 2007