Rebuilding Together San Francisco ~ Celebrating 20 Years!

Rebuilding Together San Francisco repairs the homes of residents in need
and the facilities of the community organizations that serve them,
which allows our city's residents to live and work in safety and comfort.

Rebuilding Together San Francisco
Pier 28, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California 94105
Phone: 415.905.1611, Fax: 415.905.1610
www.rebuildingtogethersf.org

June 2009

Introducing RTSF's New Executive Director Karen Nemsick
Karen Nesmick

Karen has a 20-year career in the non-profit sector serving primarily those most at-risk in our community to help move families out of poverty. She has been a Bay Area resident since 1988, and began her career at the Raphael House (a shelter for homeless families), where she worked for 5 years as a program director. Thereafter, Karen started her own nonprofit called Women In Action to fill a gap in job preparedness training at welfare-to-work programs by teaching teamwork and communication skills to women moving from welfare to work, while also challenging women to overcome self-defeating beliefs and build self-confidence. She was also Executive Director of Healing Waters and has been a board member, volunteer, and consultant to numerous nonprofits throughout the Bay Area particularly focused on strategic direction, organizational development, leadership, training, grant writing and fundraising.

Karen is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring her love of San Francisco and its residents and her commitment to the nonprofit sector to support the great work of RTSF! And we hope you share in our excitement about her enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment to our mission.

13 Homes Renovated During Rebuilding Weekend 2009

A huge thank you goes out to all the families who partnered with Rebuilding Together for our 20th anniversary year of providing free home repairs tohomeowners in our community. We provided services to people of all ages. From the 1.5 year old great granddaughter, her mother and great grandmother who all live together to a family of 5 with a disabled daughter to a 90 year old whose volunteerism spans a lifetime of community service and is still volunteering today! Each person not only received home repairs but a renewed sense of connection to their community and a stronger faith that people remain genuinely good. To each of you who set time aside to contribute to keeping people safe in their homes and to re-newing their sense of connection to the community the staff thanks you. It is with great pride that we read the beautiful thank you cards that tell us how much RTSF accomplished through your hard work.
exterior painting; photo by Michele Rider

exterior painting; photo by Michele Rider

2009 was the year of the deck/stair/fence repair and a great group of talented and skilled volunteers made it possible to provide homeowners with safe egresses and sturdy new fences. We send out a huge thank you to all the hammer swingers that made these important improvements possible. Mrs. S said it best. "I really honestly love you people. I mean it. I never thought I could get all this work done on my home and I wouldn't have without you wonderful people."

Facilities in Focus ~ Rebuilding Weekend 2009

Mural; photo by Nate Holdaway

This year, RTSF tackled 18 facility projects on Rebuilding Weekend, ranging in size and scope in locations all over the city. Our Construction & Volunteer Captains worked hard to make each project as impactful as possible, whether big or small. With their leadership, RTSF was able to take on BIG projects like the Mission Hotel (the largest SRO in town), and the Circus Center (housed in a massive Art Deco gymnasium), where the goal was to cover as much ground as possible with flair! In contrast, we made a big splash in small places like the Meridian Gallery, where the work focused on bringing out the fine details and making the space more usable.

2009 brought many new captains to RTSF and their enthusiasm gave a home base to the nomadic Urban YMCA (the Y without walls) and a complete upgrade of Meadows Livingstone School. Returning Captains also played an importa Daniel Webster Elementary School

nt role helping Bryant Elementary realize their green vision on the playground by building arbors, benches and trellises. The third phase of a transformation at Daniel Webster Elementary was also completed by building a garden out of concrete!

Through all this work, community relationships are built and strengthened. Facility representatives and organizations (such as Korean Center and Whitney Young CDC) put their trust in RTSF teams to execute our work with care and skill. Once things get rolling on a Rebuilding Weekend facility, other neighborhood organizations often join in the effort. For example, RTSF's project at the Mission Neighborhood Center caught the attention of Precita Eyes Muralists, and they came forward to make a special contribution, painting a mural on the outside of the building. Partnerships are Rebuilding Together's best way to elevate our work in the community, Local 6 electricians; photo by Michele Rider

Local 6 electricians; photo by Michele Rider

and we are especially proud of our collaboration with the electricians' union. Teams from the Local 6 visit every Rebuilding Weekend project and make upgrades wherever needed. Their skills add incredible value to our work in the community, and we are grateful for their involvement each year.

Since homes often serve seniors and facilities often serve children, Rebuilding Together San Francisco has got it covered! Thank you for helping us to honor the past and build a better future together by volunteering your time with us.

*For a full list of the Facilities served by RTSF in 2009, visit our website @ www.rebuildingtogethersf.org.

Client Highlight - Rebuilding Weekend 2009 Toni K.

Meet Mrs. K and Kiwi, the hearing dog she has had for 10 years, just one of the 30 fantastic community members we were able to support through our Rebuilding Weekend this year. At 79 years old, Mrs. K is an extremely active and welcoming woman, despite having to overcome many health challenges. When she was 3 years old, she fell into a coma that lasted a year and as a teen, her love for the trumpet caused both of her ear drums to rupture and has worn a hearing aide since. Mrs. K is an avid jewelry maker, creating bright, dazzling necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Asked how she happened upon this craft, she stated that a good friend introduced her to jewelry-making while she underwent treatment for breast cancer, "It kept my mind off of my illness," Mrs. K explains. Currently, Ms. K attends a support group for diabetes and has lived with the condition for many years now. Even with all of these seeming challenges, Mrs. K finds time for friends (one of whom she has known for 69 years), volunteerism (for the Jewish Community Services as a Widower Support volunteer) and her artistic expression (jewelry-making and poetry).

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Ms. K moved with her parents and sister to California in 1947. Shortly after moving to San Francisco, she enrolled in a new nursing program - it was the first year of a state based program aimed at training young women to become vocational nurses, and while 80 women were originally accepted into the program, only 17 actually graduated - Ms. K being one of them. Having met her late husband, Israel, while riding the bus to summer school, they married shortly after and Ms. K took time off to stay home and raise her sons. She returned to nursing after her sons were grown, eventually spending 14 years working in convalescence homes and experienced first-hand how loneliness affects seniors. In response to my question, "What do senior citizens need so they can lead more rewarding lives?" Mrs. K simply said, "People. Seniors need people because we get lonely and then we start thinking. And when we start thinking, we start to remember a lot of bad things that have happened. Good things too, but also bad things."

Mrs. K has expressed her gratitude for the work Rebuilding Together volunteers were able to perform on the home she has owned since 1975. "You people have already helped me so much," she says and as a token of her appreciation, she wrote a poem about RTSF (the first ever! We're so excited...)

Rebuilding Together
That's their name, it's not a game, nor done for fame
Helping Seniors is what they do
Like giving up their free time for you
Including weekends, too
Volunteers come ready to work for free
It seems like a miracle to me
Supplies are brought, whatever you need
And work real hard is their creed
Doing this in fair or foul weather
They really work well together
Workers come by the score
To mop, sweep and clean the floor
Walls are painted shiny and bright
Look at them, what a delight
Fixing needs to be done
They work hard and call it fun
Making homes safe for you is what they do
Those that come work very hard
They even fixed up my yard
Of course at first they check things out
Til they see what must be done, there's no doubt
This is done so I can stay at home
Safety, that's the key, since I'm alone
They do this for others, not just for me
That's not only the whole story
If you're in need, they are there indeed

REBUILDING TOGETHER SAN FRANCISCO NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT! Our work is made possible through the generous support of people like you! You can support RTSF by:

Making a one time donation. Every dollar you contribute to Rebuilding Together San Francisco returns $4 worth of free repairs and renovations. Our tax identification number is 94-3107808.

Becoming a monthly donor. $10, $20 or other relatively small amount per month will contribute a long way to supporting the work of RTSF. You can set up an automatic recurring donation to RTSF through our credit card processing service.

Leveraging your donation with a matching gift from your company. Many companies match their employees' charitable donations. We welcome and greatly appreciate these additional contributions. Check with your company's human resources department to find out more.

Attending RTSF's 20th anniversary event Changing Neighborhoods, Changing Lives on Oct 17, 2009. Tickets to be made available for purchase through RTSF's website in July 2009. If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring the event, please contact us at 415.905.1611.

Donating your vehicle. Consider donating your car, RV or boat to RTSF. To learn more contact our partner, Donate For Charity, toll-free at (866) 392-4483 or click here to donate online.