Rebecca Solnit talks about the oddly-placed joy that is often found in a community after a disaster.  Citizens recount that after an earthquake, when everyone is pitching in and working together to support the people in their community, there is a joyful sense of meaning and camaraderie that’s missing in our current daily lives.  With cell phones and internet, we are in contact with friends, vendors, colleagues, doctors, advertisers, games 24/7, constantly rushing from one chore to another. Doug Smith talks about the ascendance of value over values in a me vs. we society.   Value is measured only by dollars – how much money we have, make and spend.  Values reflect how we get along, our attitudes, and the way we behave with each other.  We used to be a world where people lived closely together in “places” (homes, neighborhoods, small towns, churches, schools) and relied on each other for our most basic needs – food, shelter, education, and good health.  To live and interact so closely, we created cultural values that made sure that we all got along well enough to survive. There was only so much information at our disposal, and for the most part, it all related to our place.  Now we live in a world of global markets, networks, nations and organizations whose “purpose” is focused on value without a common set of values.  We communicate through computers and can go days/weeks without actually speaking to anyone in our “place.”

We see this struggle of people vs. purpose every day in San Francisco as the value(money) of development, technology and entertainment is taking precedence over the values(people) of housing, equality, health, and affordability.  To visit San Francisco’s downtown, you see a gleaming, growing city whose purpose is revenue, measured by increasing commercial property values, low hotel vacancy rates, tourist revenue, and number of units being developed (commercial and housing) to name a few.  But where do our values/our people figure into this calculation?  Are we satisfied with a city whose vision of success is value, at the expense of values?

Happily there are hopeful examples of people coming together to bring value to their neighborhoods in accordance with the community’s values.  Rebuilding Together San Francisco has had the privilege to work with groups in the OMI, Excelsior and SOMA neighborhoods as they define their neighborhood’s values and create events and projects that support those values.  What’s unique about these projects is that the community is coming together, to talk to each other, and to decide what is most important for their neighborhood, and the City is providing support for these projects.  The activities reflect community values.  And we’re seeing some of that joy that results when neighbors just have time to be together in their place and share a common goal.

As I’m writing this blog, I’m on a commuter bus passing the wetlands near the Bay Bridge toll plaza.  In a still pond, 2 white herons are perfectly reflected in the water as they fish.  I’m amazed and encouraged that here, in the middle of millions of people, cars, and buildings, we have put a value on preserving a home for a community of birds to thrive.  Can we do the same for our humans?!

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Barbara has only been volunteering with RTSF for a year now but boy do we really appreciate her time and hard work! Her consistent and enthusiastic demeanor have supported our Home Safety program operations in a big way – from phone interviews to filing and preparation for Build Days.   We could not have served as many homeowners in 2012 as we did if it wasn’t for Barbara’s continuous!

Growing up in Long Island, Barbara transplanted to San Francisco in the 1970s and has since retired from a long career in human resources.  Being busy in the SF community, however, has kept her on her toes!  Her volunteer resume is exceptional, including the Sierra Club, Academy of Sciences, KQED, 30^th St. Senior Center and several pledge drives.  Impressive!

A recent development in Barbara’s life is her acceptance into the Peace Corps! We are so excited for her to embark on this new adventure but will certainly miss having her in the office.  Her new journey starts in June where she will take off to Moldova, which is located between Romania and Ukraine, for a 27 month term of service.  Though surprised about her placement, she is excited for the challenges and growth ahead.  While in Moldova, she will be involved in Business Advisory and Agribusiness, helping locals grow their own business and boost their own economy.

While being with us at RTSF, Barbara resonated with our mission and bettering low-income homeowner’s quality of life: “You guys deliver on what you say you will and that is important to those that depend on you.”

Thank you, Barbara, for sharing your time and joy with us.  Congratulations on being our Volunteer of the Month and we wish you well in the Peace Corps!

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The Project:

Founded in 1989, Family Service Agency of San Francisco (FSASF) is the oldest nonsectarian, nonprofit, charitable social-services provider in the City and County of San Francisco.  Their mission is to strengthen families by providing caring, effective, and innovative social services, with special emphasis on the needs of low-income families, children, the elderly, and disabled people, thus improving the quality of life for all San Franciscans.

Why We Love Them:

FSASF loves seniors and RTSF loves seniors, so by extension RTSF loves FSASF!  Here’s a partial list of services FSASF provides to San Francisco seniors: Outpatient Mental Health, Full Service Wellness Programs, Peer Recovery, Community Integration, Adult Day Support, Long-Term Care, Foster Grandparent Program, Companion Programs, Community Service Employment.  For a full list, complete with program descriptions, click HERE.

How They Found Us:

FSASF is one of a small group of organizations who have benefited from our Facility Renovation Program multiple times over the last decade.  It helps that they run their services out of half a dozen buildings around the city, so every time we’ve served them it’s like we’re serving someone new!  In 2001 we worked on their Bryant St. office; in 2005 it was their Gough St. facility; and this past year we helped spruce up their Geary Blvd location.  The building at 6221 Geary also houses the Richmond Senior Center, which received a Rebuilding Together make over in 2011 (perhaps it was seeing how well their upstairs neighbors fared that prompted FSASF’s most recent application!).

The Need:

A common refrain we here from the non-profit facilities we serve is, “We want to offer our clients a space that is welcoming, warm, bright and cheerful.  People often come to us at challenging times in their lives and we want to inspire hope, strength and joy.”  FSASF is no different.  Of particular concern to them were their therapy rooms and a handful of their offices, which can often double as therapy rooms when meeting with clients.  The existing rooms, all white, felt cold and clinical.  Secondly, the management at FSASF, understanding that the office environment affects staff too, wanted to create a workspace that was brighter and cleaner, and that felt more professional too; something that staff could be proud of.  Sometimes we at RTSF have to point out to the agencies we serve that improving their personal work space will improve their capacity to work which in turn will allow them to provide superior service to their clients.  The folks at FSASF didn’t take any convincing; we were on the same page since the get go.

The Fall Build Day Team:

A large team of enthusiastic volunteers from the law firm, Arnold & Porter, assisted by a small contingent of volunteers from Green Key Real Estate, and lead by the dynamic duo, veteran Project Leader Leo Socal and rising star Ariel Fortune, transformed the FSASF space at Geary St. is an absolute whirlwind of activity!  The work at FSASF was made possible thanks to a grant from Arnold & Porter; however, the extent and quality of the results reflect their volunteer’s natural inclination to go above and beyond the call of duty.  Responding to the leadership of Volunteer Captain Sean Callagy, employees from Arnold & Porter raised additional funds in order to expand the amount and quality of furniture they could provide to FSASF.  One volunteer in particular who exemplified the Arnold & Porter spirit was Bridget Smith-Eastman.  Chosen by the team leadership as their Project Rockstar, Bridget was described this way, “She worked tirelessly and brought her own small army of helpers. The bottom line is that she was fantastic, and helped motivate everyone around her to get the job done quickly without sacrificing quality.”  Way to go Bridget!  Special thanks are also in order for: Erika Jennings, who lead the Green Key Real Estate volunteers; Paul Hayes, a professional painter who helped us with quality control; Gary Linsky, a carpenter who built and installed some custom wire molding; Cathy Spensley, Senior Division Director for FSASF, and all the other staff who jumped in at the end of the day and helped us finish painting and clean up; Matt Rodriguez, our sales rep at Kelly Moore Paints, for walking the job site and advising us on paint quantity, type and color.

The Work

• Paint, paint, paint!
  • Group Therapy Room
  • Individual Therapy Rooms 1 & 2
  • Staff Offices 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
  • Hallways 1, 2, 3 & 4
  • Lobby
  • Conference Room
  • Reception Area
  • Install new office furnishings
    • Cherry Wood Conference Table
    • 14 Cherry Wood/Fabric Conference Room Chairs
    • 6 Cherry Wood/Fabric Lobby Chairs
    • 6 Cherry Wood/Fabric Therapy Room Chairs
    • Small Round Cherry Wood Table
    • 15 Rolling Office Chairs w/ Arm Rests

Partners

• Arnold & Porter – Thank you for your sponsorship!
• Green Key Real Estate – Thank you for your volunteers!
• Cycon Office Systems – Thank you for providing us a discount on office furniture!
• Kelly Moore Paints – Thank you for your excellent service!

A big thank you to any volunteers who weren’t already mentioned.  Pulling off this project was a real team effort and we needed every single body that showed up that day, otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to complete our ambitious goals!  For more photos of this project, check out our Flickr page, and don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook!

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I’ve been contacted by…Rebuilding Together, the national organization that does Habitat for Humanity type rebuilds and remodels of both private homes and non-profit organization’s facilities.

I was a construction captain a few years ago on a fabulous remodel of the basement of the Larkin Street Youth Center and last year did assessments on two homes…

Apparently there are projects in communities all around the Bay Area, but if you’d like to team up with a corporate sponsor and do some great work while showing off your organizing skills and NAPO’s community spirit–please let me know asap.

Really? A unique opportunity to stretch one’s organizing muscles, volunteer for an awesome nonprofit and cause, AND be part of a team that positively impacts the lives of strangers? “Please do put me on the list! I’d love to help if the timing’s right,” I responded to my colleague, Victoria Roberts-Russell.

Two weeks later, another email landed in my inbox. This one contained descriptions of various projects that could benefit from the input of a professional organizers. I signed on, completed a project, and was hooked. When it was over, I wondered how we could get more organizers on board with this seemingly natural partnership and began conspiring with Victoria and our enthusiastic associates at RTSF.

“Organizers play a pivotal role on our bi-annual projects,” says RTSF’s Valerie Coleman. “Often times the critical repairs that a senior or disabled adult needs is not even accessible until ‘stuff’ has been cleared out. Or, perhaps an overworked and understaffed youth center is just focusing on how to run the best programs possible and to engage the most kids they can, which means that creating an organized, functioning space is just beyond their abilities. Whatever the situation, we greatly value the experience and perspectives that professional organizers bring to our projects. In the past, they have helped us determine scopes of work, whether clients are ready to let go, sourced donations and materials, led volunteers on a task and offered tremendous support to our clients, who are often overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin.”

Over the next few years we slowly but surely recruited more of our colleagues to join us on this annual collaboration. Then came one fine evening in February 2012 at the RTSF office where we had a record number of organizers in attendance to learn about upcoming projects…

Eight professional organizers (the seven pictured above, plus myself) sat around the large table with RTSF staff members Valerie Coleman, Jen Garber and Jonathan Rossall. We were also joined by representatives from the Mental Health Association’s Peer Responders Program. This meeting was the beginning of the deployment of nine professional organizers who would cumulatively contribute nearly 275 hours of pro bono services to three non-profit facilities and three residential clients before, during, and after National Rebuilding Day. (Two projects were cancelled in advance of Rebuilding Day, and organizers assigned to those projects were re-deployed!)

When professional organizers join their clients, skilled tradespersons, and corporate and community volunteers, “the power of we” can take on unique dimensions. Here’s what the organizers’ contributions to this years’ projects looked like.

Margie Lehnen-Holtz and Emily Vander Tuin at Mr. and Mrs. A’s home
Mr. and Mrs. A have done their best to maintain their home of 40 years, but it’s become harder to keep up with as they are no longer physically capable of doing it themselves. They have accumulated quite a bit of stuff that they needed help removing. Below, Margie and Emily work with Mrs. A to sort and remove unwanted items from the overstuffed garage.

Amanda Kovattana at Ms. G’s home
Ms. G is an elderly widow for whom maintaining her home became very difficult after her husband passed on. For the first few years after her loss, grief made it hard for her to let go of possessions which accumulated throughout the home. Enter Amanda who worked closely with Ms. G to clear the kitchen to make way for necessary upgrades in this room. Items being kept had to be temporarily stored in the living room until Rebuilding Day work was complete.

Erin Becker and Courtney King at Holy Ghost Service Center
At Holy Ghost Service Center, the program administrators share their home with ten formerly homeless men, all who pitch in and help with household chores, and also prepare and serve food to the homeless several times per week. On Rebuilding Day, Erin worked with the team’s volunteer carpenter, residents, and fellow organizer, Courtney, to clear and organize the basement by removing unneeded items, building and installing shelving, and moving items onto shelving.

Victoria Roberts-Russell, Kathy Waddill and Sandy Trout at Beacon Center
The OMI/Excelsior Beacon Center is dedicated to improving the lives of low-income families by providing educational, recreational and support services for free to the community.

Victoria, Kathy, and Sandy quickly changed gears when their previous project – a residential client who was a hoarder – was postponed. On Rebuilding Day, they collectively re-configured the staff’s administrative office to optimize the work space, triaged and organized the program’s multi-purpose room, and triaged a storage room (and hallway) that had become less than functional.

Looking at what we all did makes me giddy inside, and then I think about how much more we can do in the future. The possibilities make me giddier.

o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o

This post has been registered for participation in Blog Action Day 2012.

Cross-posted at Liberated Spaces

Text and photos by Debra Baida / Liberated Spaces

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Why we Love her: Despite the hardships she has encountered in the past 20 years, Ms. D continues to be optimistic and a hard worker. Like many San Franciscans, Ms. D is a true SF Giants fan! During baseball season, she works for the Giants ushering. Ms. D also works part time at the Black Coalition on AIDS and works with the youth from her church.

How She Found Us: Eavesdropping and word of mouth is a great way to outreach. Ms. D was riding the Muni to work when she overheard two passengers talking about the services RTSF offers. She could not believe and applied right away!

The Need: Although Ms. D inherited her home in 2000, she continued to live in the downstairs in-law. Before Ms. D found RTSF, she would use her stove burners to heat her home – a fire hazard! Her kitchen sink was leaking, limiting her ability to wash her dishes. The front stairs where cracked and sinking, and her garage floor had a shallow hole adjacent to the stairs. Ms. D’s multigenerational home was in need of help and our Rebuilding Day volunteers came to her rescue!

The Rebuilding Day Team: Ms. D’s project was lead by Construction Captain Jeff Schwab from Moroso Construction and Volunteer Captains Herald Chen from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, Ronnie Bloomberg from Moroso Construction, Roberta Beach and Joan O’Neil from Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep. Jeff determined the scope of the project and coordinated the efforts of all the individuals and companies that volunteered their labor and time. A special thank you goes out to Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep Volleyball team who rolled up their sleeves, boxed all of her belongings, and moved Ms. D out of the downstairs in law into her newly renovated and painted home upstairs – hours before their Junior Prom, may I add.

The Work:

• Roof was repaired and rear add-on was repaired
• Repair front exterior stairs
• Fix garage sink hole
• Repair kitchen faucet
• Remove carpet from bedroom
• Prep, prime, paint upstairs bedroom, living room and kitchen
• Move Ms. D upstairs

Partners:

• Moroso Construction
• Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company
• Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep

A big THANK YOU to everyone that helped! Check out more pictures from this project on our Flickr page and don’t forget to “like us” on Facebook!

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If you see graffiti, call “311″ to report it. They get over 100 graffiti phone complaints a day (wowzers!) but they have a great system around following up in a timely manner.

Also, if there is graffiti on your property, they highly recommend that you paint over it ASAP, like within a couple days. What they’ve found is that taggers (people that do the graffiti) like to look at their “art” and if they constantly have to re-paint it, eventually they’ll move on. More tips on abatement here.

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Picture courtesy of Light Rider Images

I can’t stop thinking about a recent article about adult day health centers being slashed (see here) - heartbreaking on many levels. Many of our senior clients struggle with loneliness and isolation, either as widows, because family has moved away, they don’t feel safe in their neighborhoods or because of limited mobility.Last year, during my oral history interviews, I asked every senior interviewed what they were most surprised about at this age – 9 out of 10 said being this alone, that they hadn’t expected to be so lonely. *heartbreaking*

Often times, adult day health centers are one of the few opportunities for seniors to take free classes, have a nutritious meal, learn about useful resources or socialize with their community. Also, Rebuilding Together works very closely with the amazing senior centers in San Francisco - either by being a referral for their clients or bringing our volunteers to help renovate their space. This past April, RTSF brought an enthusiastic team from Ernst & Young to paint, re-organize and build out a kitchen at the Richmond Senior Center. And from hands on experience of working with these centers, I can testify that they are running on bare bones staffing with ever shrinking budgets while accomplishing a tremendous amount for their clients. Often times, they are a hub within their neighborhood, like the Richmond Senior Center, and able to provide such a broad range of services specifically geared towards their clients needs.

Picture courtesy of Chris Pachan

Furthermore, the 2010 census (see here) reveals that the median age of Californians is rising and is currently the oldest in our state’s history. And by now we all know why – Baby Boomers, or in San Francisco, what has been dubbed the Silver Tsunami. San Francisco is not ready to deal with our rapidly growing senior population, and while there are dozens of concerned nonprofits, community centers and City agencies that are attempting to deal with this impending change, the huge deficits year after year are hitting seniors and adults with disabilities the hardest. Estimates show that in San Francisco by 2025, 1 in 5 people will be older than 65 and the number of seniors 85 or older will have doubled. WOW.

Picture courtesy of Light Rider Images

I love working with seniors and part of Rebuilding Together San Francisco’s mission is to help ensure that seniors can continue to age safely in their homes. Aging at home is so important – not only for quality of life, but it is also way more cost effective, for the senior, their family and the community in general. Housing is only one aspect and while RTSF will continue to serve this growing community with their housing needs, our services are really only a drop in the buckets! The majority of our clients worked 40-50+ years, served in wars, saved for and bought their homes, supported their communities, raised their families, all the while dutifully contributing to both Social Security and Medicare. Similarly,most of those same clients are now living on $9,000-$12,000 a YEAR. Honestly, I don’t know how they do it. 

This is not some abstract concept, I’m talking about mothers, neighbors, friends, your childhood librarian, ourselves – what happens when you’ll need a little extra help? Contrary to Baby Boomer belief (see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgmWwMheXkk

),  if we’re lucky, we will all live a full life, until aging forces our needs to change drastically . Seniors shouldn’t have to live in isolation or in poverty; without critical in home supportive services that can keep them in their homes longer and safer; have to decide between medicine or food; any of the other important social services that we, as compassionate Californians, have thoughtfully built up over the years.

“Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.” - Pearl S. Buck

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Board members Dian and Scott

For the past 7 years, Scott Torgan has served on the Board of Directors for Rebuilding Together San Francisco. Recently, we asked one of our volunteers to interview Scott about how and why he became involved with RTSF, as Scott will be terming off the board this year. Scott has been a tremendous RTSF supporter & very active board member and will be sorely missed, but here’s a little bit about why he got involved with RTSF.  

Scott was originally drawn to the organization’s community work and the impact it makes in peoples’ homes. An East coast native, Scott wanted to get more involved in his new San Francisco community, learn more about its history and culture, and experience the company of working with his neighbors. His experiences with RTSF have accomplished just that.

Scott has seen the full spectrum of volunteering with RTSF, as both a board member and a volunteer on Rebuilding Day. He has enjoyed getting out in the community, making flower boxes at community centers, and assisting with painting, gardening and general clean-up in peoples’ homes.

Visiting homes has been an eye opening experience for Scott. Early on he realized that his own neighborhood had residents in need of help from RTSF. While not apparent just by looking at the outside of their homes, upon looking inside he realized that some were actually living in sub-standard housing. During his time as a board member, he visited some beautiful older homes that were rich with history, but badly in need of repairs that their owners were unable to make. As a board member with RTSF, he was able to make a meaningful impact for those homeowners and in the community he lives in.

Though his service as a board member with RTSF is ending this year, looking back Scott feels a sense of accomplishment. Although at times it has been difficult to not be able to assist everyone who comes to RTSF for help, he is very impressed and amazed by the amount of work done over the years and is proud to have been a part of it.

This year Scott will be a Volunteer Captain at the Asian Family Support Center in the Outer Richmond. We will miss you on the board and hope to continue seeing you on our projects in the future. Thanks for your commitment to Rebuilding Together San Francisco!

If you are interested in working on our projects this April, please contact Valerie Coleman at valerie@rebuildingtogethersf.org.

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