How to Weather a Disaster: Know Thy Neighbor

Is it truly important to “know your neighbor,” as the old expression goes? According to a recent article from The Atlantic Cities , not only is it important, but it could save your life in a disaster. Sociologists looked at mortality rates in the Chicago heat wave of 1995 in different neighborhoods, and found interesting results. When comparing two demographically similar neighborhoods, they found that the loss of life in the neighborhood with local diners, grocery stores, and people who “knew their neighbors” was significantly less during that mournful period than the neighborhood with less quantifiable social cohesion. Read More »

First Annual Fall Build – We Need Volunteers!

Rebuilding Together San Francisco is thrilled to announce our first annual Fall Build Day, October 22nd 2011 – which also happens to be Make a Difference Day.  In direct response to the overwhelming need in our community, we’re working hard to expand our services – in addition to our April Rebuilding Day projects, each year we hope to serve more clients through our Fall Build day as well. We hope to help 10 low-income homeowners in need of critical safety repairs - while these projects may not be a great fit for our Rebuilding Day (they really don’t need a team of 10-20 volunteers), they would greatly benefit from a small team of 2-4 trades or handy volunteers. Are you comfortable with basic trades skills or tools? Do you tackle home projects in your spare time? Do you have time to donate 1 Saturday to keeping a senior safe in her home of 52 years? Please join us!

Below is a list of our Fall Build clients, the volunteers needed and the Scopes of Work we hope to complete – but we need your help! Take a look at the volunteer needs  and whether you are a new volunteer or someone who has been with us for 20 years, we need your help to kick off this much needed new program.  If you’re interested or have other questions, please contact Valerie@rebuildingtogethersf.org or (415) 905-1611. We’d love to have you! Read More »

Wonder what to do about graffiti?

Last night at a community meeting (the OMI Neighbors in Action, to be exact), they had two super nice guys (Greg & Larry) from the Department of Public Works (DPW) came to talk about graffiti specifically. I thought the information was really helpful and interesting, so I wanted to share it briefly with all of you! But please check out their site here  for more information including what it costs to abate each year, tips to remove, and efforts to deter taggers by creating murals.

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. Read More »

Calling all nonprofits, schools & income qualified residents!

It’s that time of year again friends – Rebuilding Together San Francisco is actively recruiting applications for next year’s National Rebuilding Day, next April, Saturday 28th, 2012.

• Do you know of a neighbor, friend or community member that could benefit from free home repair or basic safety modifications?
• Do you frequent a local nonprofit, community center or live near a public school that could really use a renovation?

Please refer them to us, our applications is on our website HERE and our deadline for next Rebuilding Day is August 31st. Read More »

Save the Date

Our Changing Neighborhoods, Changing Lives fundraiser is rapidly approaching – please save the date!

Where: SOMArts Cultural Center (934 Brannan St., San Francisco, CA 94103)

When:  Thursday, September 22nd 6:00-9:00pm

What: Join us at the Changing Neighborhoods, Changing Lives fundraiser for Rebuilding Together San Francisco and support our work to rebuilding our San Francisco community! Exciting events include:

For more information contact Karen Nemsick (415) 905-1611 ext. 202

Senior Programs Are Community Programs

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. Read More »

Thank You letters…

All the thank you letters, emails and handmade artwork that are rolling in from our homeowners and facility partners just makes my heart swell. Here are some snippets…

“To the volunteers, the 5 men who replaced the front and back steps for my mother (a woman you had never met), I would like to say god bless you all…I wish I could really get you all to understand what a wonderful act of kindness you have committed, and for people you don’t know. How great are you guys! Read More »

We Did It!

Phew, we did it! And by ‘we’ I mean our amazing Captains, volunteers, sponsors, community partners, homeowners and facility representatives, coworkers, board members, City partners, local businesses and churches, neighborhood groups, unions, students and even staff sweeties! Our official numbers aren’t in yet, but we had an estimated 1,4oo volunteers on over 50 projects this past Rebuilding Day.

Isn’t it shocking how many people it takes working together to drive the Rebuilding Day train? But even more amazing, is how many of our volunteers, sponsors and partners return every year, committed and passionate about the work that we do. This short blog from an extremely exhausted (and equal parts thrilled) staffer is a basically a love letter to all of those who helped us make this happen. Read More »

“I Grew Up in the OMI!”

A Volunteers’ Perspective, by Emilie R.

When I learned that Rebuilding Together San Francisco had its eye on the OMI, I knew I needed to volunteer — it offered me the chance to use my camera to assist a great organization and to reconnect with the memories of the “me” who used to live there.

I never referred to the OMI as such — life for me took place in 2 distinct hoods:  Ingleside and Lakeview, each with its own character and feel.  I was raised Pentecostal and attended church at the Voice of Pentecost on Ocean Avenue in Ingleside.  I lived in Lakeview, at 240 Thrift Street, not far from Oceanview Park (where Rebuilding Together will be planting a community garden). Read More »