lead prep event update

Making deliveries for today's event! Weather seems to be holding so we are still on track to start at 9.

Something good

Yes folks, pre-work for National Rebuilding Day (aka the April Rebuilding Event) starts this weekend! Joining forces with around 900 volunteers, we will work on over 30 homes in the next three weeks. It's exciting to participate, a delightful challenge to plan, and rewarding to see complete. We hope you'll all make it out to one of our sites to see the good works being done in your neighborhood!

Sweet songs for a good cause

Grace United Methodist in Naperville, a long-time community partner and extremely active April Rebuilding Event volunteer group, is hosting a chorale concert to benefit their Rebuilding Together Aurora project on April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of the church.

The North Heights Lutheran Choral group from St. Paul, MN will perform a collection of classical hymns, gospel, and spiritual medleys with the Grace Church Chamber Singers.

For further information regarding the fundraiser or musicians, contact the Grace United Music Minister, Dan Wagner.

Find your way to the sanctuary after a good day on your April Rebuilding Event jobsite!  Tickets may be purchased at the door on online here.   Prices are:  $18 for adults / $13 for seniors (65+) / $7.50 for students

Mr and Mrs C

‎"What a great group of people!" quipped Mrs C after volunteers wrapped up replacing the roof on the garage of she and her husband's east side residence. "The work you do is so appreciated!" 

Mr and Mrs C are longtime local legends for their commitment to community service on the school board, commemorated by a park and elementary school named in their honor. After over 60 years in their home, Mr and Mrs C watched their two sons (now Army veterans living in Colorado) grow up in a city of change, degeneration, and regrowth. Despite this, their commitment to their community has never ceased, and they continue to share their enthusiasm for life with their neighors and church.

Join Rebuilding Together Aurora this April and support our longtime neighbors restore the homes and communinities they love.

QR Code

Hey Folks, check out our new QR code. You might see it crop up around town!

Seeking a new AmeriCorps member for August

Rebuilding Together Aurora is looking for the next CapacityCorps member to join our team!  Do you know a recent college grad or working professional that's looking to change career focus?  The CapacityCorps program, organized by Rebuilding Together, is a national service program designed to expand capacity of their affiliates through volunteer recruitment, client and community outreach, direct home repairs, and new project implementation.


Read the job listing for requirements: RTA Outreach Coordinator
Or find out how to apply here: CapacityCorps information

--- --- ---

The AmeriCorps Outreach Coordinator plays a vital role in the health and growth of Rebuilding Together Aurora (RTA). The member is responsible for the expansion of outreach efforts in the surrounding community, volunteer recruitment and coordination, program expansion, and client management during their 11-month full-time term of service. Part of the national Rebuilding Together CapacityCorps network, members participate in training and national events to bring communities and volunteers everywhere to improve the homes and lives of their low-income neighbors.

Members receive the AmeriCorps National*Direct living stipend bi-weekly, and the Education Award upon successful completion of their term of service.

Primary focus for this position include:

• Client Outreach
• >Volunteer Recruitment/Management
• Special Initiatives

Spring-time Wish List

Around this time of year we get a lot of questions about items folks would like to donate. Most of the time people only think of us when they are changing out their appliances or kitchen cabinets (always appreciated), but may not know that we also gladly accept small things, like the items listed below:

Reams of white 8.5x11 paper
New painting supplies: paint brushes, rollers, buckets, tape, etc (but please no actual paint)
Gift cards in small amounts

Leather work gloves in all sizes
Gently used tools, especially power tools
Ladders, especially extension ladders

Solid shelving units for garage/warehouse
Exterior extension cords
HEPA vac filters

Green and/or black fabric table cloth for 8' rectangle table
Weekly volunteer to help with Quickbooks data entry

Duct tape

Swiffer Sweeper dry disposable cloths

New or gently used card tables

EZ up tent

Super Sticky Name Tags

Medium-large shredder

And they're off!

The numbers are in, and the groups are settled... We are pleased to announce that Rebuilding Together Aurora will be bringing together nearly 40 volunteer crews to provide 31 families with home repairs this April!

We can't help but feel like we're at the start of a horse race, with all the buzz and planning and eventual 'letting go of the reins' we experience when we hand the projects off to our volunteer crews. In the week leading up to the House Captain training, it's like we were loading up the stalls. Last Thursday, the buzzer rang, and our fearless (project) leaders went on their way! Of course there are hiccups, but it's exciting to see how the players adjust, determine strategies, and head for the finish line. April 28 and May 5 this year are the home stretch, and we expect to see a smooth finish for all. Fortunately we're splitting the spoils again at the Volunteer Appreciation Event (join us on May 5 for a cookout!).
Everyone's a winner when you're racing for good. (yes, we're that corny)

Keep checking in... we'll be posting photos and links for ways you can get involved-- but also take a peek at the new link above ("Available Volunteer Jobs") and sign up to help out this spring!

Volunteer Shout Out

Shout Out to Aurora University's men soccer player Brett Wegleitner, who participated in Saturday's Green Home House Call event. Brett is a sophomore soccer player, and "took the lead in helping to organize the men's soccer team for the Green Homes event" says head coach Amir St. Clair. "Brett organized rides, and made sure everything was communicated throughout the whole team."

35 volunteers from the AU team joined Rebuilding Together Aurora to provide 13 households in Aurora with energy efficiency upgrades and training materials. "I was very impressed by how enthusiastic and engaged all of the students were," says Amy Altenbern, Executive Director.
We look forward to having them back on our team in the Spring! (groan-worthy pun intended) Score!

Logistic Captains

April may feel an awfully long way off, but here in the RTA office, we are already thinking hard about those soggy Spring Saturdays just 25 weeks away!

Do you know an exceptional person without a lick of "handyman skill" that may have enjoyed working with RTA in the past and/or might want get involved in a deeper way?

In response to feedback from our fabulous House Captains, we are creating a new volunteer position! This volunteer job, which we are calling the "Logistic Captain," will provide critical Event support to both homeowners, house captains, and RTA staff. In general, LCs will assist RTA staff keep track of work being done on site, act as homeowner liaison, and relieve the House Captains of paperwork duty (hooray!). It's a good role for someone who would enjoy engaging with volunteers and homeowners socially, is organized and can keep on top of light paperwork, but is a little less interested in performing skilled work.

LCs will have several pre-event site visits to conduct with the House Captain and/or on their own time, and 2 full Saturdays. However, otherwise, they simply need to stay in contact with their House Captains and the RTA staff between late Feb - early May.

If you or someone you know is interested, either contact the RTA office or request more information through this form: http://goo.gl/Cp9LG

See you this spring!

Lowes Sponsor Shout Out

The Lowe's Team still in good spirits at the end of the day

The Aurora and Oswego Lowe's stores teamed up to repaint the exterior of a (rather large) home last Saturday for a Vietnam veteran. The homeowner, cited for both unsightly paint and damage to his garage roof, is an active community member and spent much of the day sharing his story with volunteers. He was delighted by the quality of work the team provided and overwhelmed by the number of volunteers that came out to help.

The crew powered through the long day with exceptional spirit despite a lunchtime downpour of rain and hail. Instead of taking cover under scaffolding or lunching in warm cars, several volunteers simply moved underneath awnings and continued to paint, insisting that "the more we do now, the faster we'll be done!"

Denny Fulkrod, HR Manager at the Aurora Lowe's store and the project's House Captain reflected that "it was a great experience. We were all exhausted at the end of the day but with a real sense that we had given back to the community that helps keep our doors open everyday."

"I want to thank all the associates from the Aurora and Oswego stores that not only came out and helped paint, but I also want to thank those associates that stayed back at the stores to ensure our customers could be taken care of."


Lots of volunteers and one very fun machine


Installing new storm windows


Happy when the sun came out!

More photos can be seen here: 824 Benton album

Green Home House Calls a success!

In recognition of the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance and in partnership with the City of Aurora, RTA held the first ever Green Home House Calls event on Saturday, September 10 at Waubonsee Community College.

66 households (that's 165 residents!) were provided with the tools and training necessary to provide DIY energy efficiency upgrades and modifications to their own homes. Each homeowner was given a pack of materials worth over $150 for attending the training, including weather stripping, low-flow water fixtures, CFL lightbulbs, water heater insulation, and a programmable thermostat.

This incredible effort was made possible in part by the 48 incredible volunteers came out to assist the project, providing help to 19 households with elderly or disabled residents.

We received great feedback about the training, and incredible stories of volunteer collaboration, homeowner experience, and appreciation from both homeowners and volunteers alike for the class and pack.

We are excited to continue this event throughout the coming year, and plan to host several more events. If you'd like to participate as either a homeowner or volunteer, contact the RTA office to learn more.

Sponsor Shout Out

The Cat Team

A 19 person team from Caterpillar joined RTA on Wednesday, September 7 as part of the Unite Way Day of Service to prepare a East-side home for painting. The homeowner, Mr Newman, is a VietNam (US Navy) veteran who has been active in the community for many years as a public speaker and entertainer; this home, where he grew up and his mother passed, has been in his family for nearly 100 years. Mr Newman applied to RTA for assistance at the encouragement of his Alderman after receiving a city citation for unsightly exterior paint and a decaying garage. RTA has struck a unique partnership with several community organizations to repair these issues.

Work will continue on his home throughout the rest of the month as volunteer teams join forces to make the much needed repairs a reality.

Thank you to everyone from Caterpillar, one of our hardest working, most dedicated and enjoyable volunteer groups to help on a Special Project! We especially respect those brave souls who donned full tyvek lead-safe suits while working. You rock!


Brave soul

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Clean Up

Get Golfing, Greening, and Giving!

Photo by Hyvan De Leon

Summer newsletter is out: Check it out here!

Highlights include:
++ 3rd annual Ballydoyle Golf Outing, benefiting RTA -- including info on how to sign up
++ Fundraising deal with Quality Care Chiropractic -- donate $30 and get a free exam

++ Doc.Crew installation at River's Edge Cafe
++ Upcoming volunteer opportunities

++ and the announcement of our newest, most exciting program open to ALL HOMEOWNERS residing in Aurora...!

Volunteer Shout Out

An Extra snazzy THANK YOU is due to all of the professional photographers that participated as mentors in this year's RTA Doc.Crew, generously donating their patience, time, and talent. Each of these fine individuals led a team of 3-5 high school students, documenting RTA's volunteers in action on the last day of our April Rebuilding Event and capturing the community each of their project sites sits in.

Jimi and Kate Allen of Jimi Allen Productions
Keir Briscoe
Rich Hayhurst of Studio One Photography and Video
Pawel Kowalczyk
Brandi Martin of West Aurora High School (instructor)
Jeffrey Ross of Jeffrey Ross Photography

The students commonly responded that they would like MORE of these events, giving their mentors a whopping average of 4.5 / 5 on the helpfulness scale--- 100% said they would participate again.
So, thank you, thank you for making this event a huge success!

2011 Doc.Crew Final 5

These 5 photos, all captured by West Aurora High School students on May 7, were selected as a series that beautifully represented the Rebuilding Together Aurora experience. These photos will be printed large-scale, courtesy of Aurora Fast Print, and used extensively in our upcoming outreach campaigns.
These students also received gift certificates to Pockets, and will have their shots submitted for publication in local and national media.


"Project Rebuild" by Mia Sanders


"A Helping Hand" by Juan Molina


"1 Up" by Brandon Zierer


"RTA1" by Hyvan De Leon


"Concentration" by Mia Sanders

2011 Doc.Crew -competition runners up

On May 7, 19 West Aurora High School students partnered with 7 professional photographers to roam the city streets and capture RTA's April Rebuilding Event volunteer crews in action. Each crew spent the afternoon working through challenges pros face in the field and getting a taste of the richness of Aurora's inner neighborhoods. Students submitted their favorites [check them out here: Flickr Group Pool] and a jury selected 5 photos that best illustrated the Rebuilding Together Aurora experience.

The student works are all fantastic, and it was extremely difficult to select the "final 5"--- below are the very close runners up. Thank you to EVERYONE for participating. We here at RTA have been nothing but astounded by the sheer quantity of mind-blowingly good work!


"Rebuilding Aurora" by Manuel Espejel


"RTA2" by Hyvan De Leon


"RTA3" by Hyvan De Leon


"Hand" by Kelsey Michelkamp-Stone


"Homie" by Brandon Zierer


"Painting High" by Brandon Zierer

Volunteer Shout Out

We here at RTA (and especially those of us who coordinate volunteers) are incredibly grateful for the skilled master craftsmen that donate their time year after year, often bringing in material donations and building our professional network by bringing in their own skilled comrades to help on project sites... an invaluable resource to our organization and our efforts in the community.

Emily Stern, Executive Director of RTA, nominated both the Plumbers Union and instructor Don Stunkel this month for yet another season of exceptional giving. She writes:

The Plumbers & Pipefitters Union Local 501, under the direction of Don Stunkel, have been instrumental in helping us provide important repairs for low-income homeowners. For the last several years, they have partnered with us on our April Rebuilding Event and have provided free labor for at least 3 full replumbing jobs. Each day they helped us was at least a 10 hour day but they never complained and jumped from site to site, addressing important plumbing needs, with a smile on their face. On top of their ARE support, they have volunteered on various emergency projects throughout the year whenever asked. The value of their support as volunteers is, without a doubt, invaluable. We simply could not do the extensive repair jobs that we do without them. The whole group has hearts of gold and sincerely inspire people to serve on a higher level. I can't stress enough how wonderful these plumbers are. We are blessed to have them in our community.

The Union took on several major projects with this year's April Rebuilding Event, including: heavy repairs on Oak St, a full replacement at W New York St, and extensive repairs for a second floor bathroom on Benton St.

Volunteer Shout Out

RTA is nothing without its dedicated House Captains who organize and run every project. House Captaining is the most time consuming and responsibility laden volunteer position with our organization, and it is only through the generous donation of each House Captain's time, talent, and tenacity that every project is completed successfully.

An anonymous Grace United Methodist volunteer nominated Thatch Irwin for his dedication to RTA, writing:

Thatch has organized the Grace UMC group for many years. He has worked to coordinate the Grace Team, plan the work and make sure we have plenty of hands to make the work go smoothly. He has been at the project evey year from start to finish and has been the person we all look forward to working with. Thatch's hard work and attitude of giving has made the many houses that Grace Church has worked on a success. Thatch does not stop once the work day is done, he has stayed in touch with some of the home owners to help outside of the weekend work. His example of giving and the grace he shows to those in need set a fine example for all to live up to.

Thank you again and again for your patience and selfless service to the Hope for Tomorrow project.

Volunteer Shout Out

April Rebuilding Event is full of unexpected or dirty jobs, and we owe the volunteers that take on those unsavory positions a HUGE THANK YOU for sparing the rest of us fainter-at-heart from the woes of crawling in muck, slithering into cobwebby crawlspaces, or teetering on the tops of twenty foot extension ladders.

Sean Gaskill, Brian Lemmon, Joel Nagle, and Kevin Koran (all of IHC Construction) deserve a HUGE extra special THANK YOU for their efforts with Fox Valley Associated General Contractors at 25 N Loucks.
These fine fellows embraced the undesirable task of sealing and insulating the very dank crawlspace of this home, wading through several inches of standing water for the majority of the day on April 30 when few else were willing to do it. Their work was very much appreciated by RTA staff, YouthBuild participants, and FVAGC volunteers who were saved from the task, and the homeowner who's house is now considerably more warm and dry.

These guys were nominated by both Mike Cweinkala and Mike Hampson, house captains for the project.