“I am SO blessed” said the homeowner, standing on her front steps watching as the crews organized and divided up to tackle the day’s projects.
On a beautiful weekend day, I had joined the Charter Our Community team, Charter Communications philanthropic initiative,which provides education, resources and financial support to improve homes in the Charter “footprint.” It’s a chance for their employees and other volunteers to make a difference in their communities.
Getting instructions for the day
We were all there to help make two neighboring homes safe and healthy. While a good majority of the volunteers were Charter employees, there were off duty police officers and folks from other companies like Scripps, along with representatives from the Rebuilding Together team.
Rebuilding Together is the national partner for the day’s work – this organization works to provide home repairs, modifications and energy efficient upgrades to low income housing nationwide.
Additionally helping out on our workday we had a little star power in the form of Jeff Devlin, who is the host of HGTV’s Stone House Revival. I’ve caught that show a few times and liked it, so having Jeff on site was a bonus! While neither of the houses were “stone” houses, Jeff offered his carpentry expertise and indicated he’d be happy to answer questions and help anyone who was new to the process.
A long list to tackle greeted the teams at each home both inside and out– and I joined the group working in the master bedroom. We were tasked with removing carpet and then after cleaning floors and walls, laying down new carpet tiles and painting the walls.
There were teams installing smoke detectors, peep holes in doors, cleaning out the basement, patching ceilings, rewiring outlets. Some volunteers had plenty of experience, other had none, but everyone had a spirit of wanting to help and make a difference in the homes and lives of those who lived there.
Master bedroom project – new carpet!
In just 7 short hours, the volunteers tackled a long list of needed upgrades. Of course selecting homes for work is not easy, and Charter wants to help as many in the community as possible – thus all neighbors were invited to come during the day and claim a “Safe & Healthy Home Kit” – a bonanza of great items for your home! The response to those boxes was terrific and lots of happy faces showed up to say hello and claim a kit.
Amazing kits for the community to have safe and healthy homes!
I was pleased to have been part of this work and look forward to finding other ways to giveback to my community. Thanks to Charter Communicationsfor a great initiative!
Does your company have a program to benefit the community? Do you participate?
What do you think?