Sounders FC partners with Seattle Bank and local charity to restore home of family in need

Seattle, WA – On Thursday, June 30, from 8 am to 4 pm, Rebuilding Together Seattle will partner with 40 volunteers from Turner Construction, Seattle Bank, and the Sounders fan base to clean, rebuild and repair the home of a family in need in South Park. In an effort to help others live independently in warmth and safety, Rebuilding Together Seattle focuses on providing low-income homes and non-profit facilities with critical repairs, modifications and energy-efficient upgrades at no cost to the individuals served.

Volunteers will be helping Rafael and Aurelia, parents of three children in South Park. Rafael and Aurelia applied to Rebuilding Together Seattle last month, in hopes of receiving assistance at their home. On June 30, volunteers will provide new windows, new kitchen appliances, interior and exterior painting, and clutter removal. The work will be made possible through the Sounders FC United We Serve Program in partnership with Seattle Bank as well as through the volunteer support of Turner Construction. Over $10,000 worth of funding and building materials will be donated to the family, in addition to over 200 hours of volunteer time.

“The Sounders FC are proud to partner with Rebuilding Together Seattle on a community based project for a second straight year through the United We Serve program presented by Seattle Bank” says Mike Flood, Vice President of Community Relations for the Sounders FC, “We look forward to making an impact on this terrific family and bringing employees from all three organizations, our fans, and the South Park community together through the mutual bond of soccer.
”As a community bank, it’s important to us that we give back in real ways to our community,” says Pat Patrick, president of Seattle Bank. “Our partnership with Seattle Sounders FC and Rebuilding Together Seattle allows us to touch the lives of our neighbors in very real ways.”

For more information on the Sounders FC Rebuilding Day through Rebuilding Together Seattle, including site location information, please visit call (206) 682-1231. This event will offer exceptional visuals and ample opportunity for interviews; all interested media are encouraged to contact RTS for more details.

About United We Serve and Seattle Bank

The Sounders FC “United We Serve” community enhancement program is a monthly side-by-side player and fan volunteer service program in partnership with Seattle Bank. The program provides support for grassroots community-based leadership service projects that impact the local community. For more information, visit: www.soundersfc.com/unitedweserve.

About Rebuilding Together Seattle

Rebuilding Together Seattle was established in 1989 and is part of the national Rebuilding Together organization with over 200 affiliates in 50 states. Rebuilding Together Seattle is a volunteer, charitable organization that repairs homes and non-profit facilities at no cost to the individuals served. RTS serves the elderly, disabled, families with children, and veterans in need. For more information, please visit http://www.rtseattle.org/.

Project Made Possible By:

RTS Energizer: Sean Wells MD, Eric Kormondy Construction

Project leader for the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati team, Eric Kormondy, chose Sean Wells as their site's RTS Energizer.

"It is very difficult to single anyone out. This year we had so many wonderful folks give up their time," Eric said.  "Our energizer this year is Sean Wells MD. This was his first year and he was a great self-starter. He jumped in wherever needed and did not wait to get reassigned when one project was done. I would see him up on the roof with a paint brush, and once the house was painted he was back down working again."

Excellent work, Sean!

Visit our donation page to make a donation to RTS in Sean's honor!

RTS Energizer: Mike McGee, The CWD Group

Project leaders for The CWD Group, Sarah Anderson and Ryan Abeo, chose Mike McGee as their site's RTS Energizer.
"In our first year, there were many valuable lessons learned in the planning and development, including how to scramble and be flexible in the midst of the multiple projects coordinated that day," Sarah said.  "Mike McGee was willing to do anything to support the success of our team. From the planning stages, Mike inserted himself in the project by providing insight and extra hands to the project managers. As the project day neared, Mike took it upon himself to take a day off of work to pick up all the necessary supplies for the day. He also graciously volunteered to be the runner, and despite our incessant phone calls and never ending new supply lists, he arrived on site with a smile on his face and a peaceful attitude, which set everyone at ease. We are all grateful for Mike's diligence, flexibility, cooperation, and support."

Excellent work, Mike!

Visit our donation page to make a donation in Mike's honor!

RTS Energizer: Kelly Graves, CoHo Team of Windermere with Copiers Northwest

Project leaders for the CoHo Team of Windermere with Copiers Northwest, Peter Wolf, Doug Wilson, and Tonya Hennen, chose Kelly Graves as their site's RTS Energizer.

"We are happy to award our project's energizer award to Kelly Graves, instructor at Iron Workers Local 86," Peter said.

Kelly(Left) and Charlie

"Kelly had the perfect combination of joy, kindness, energy and muscle to get any job done efficiently and well. He was a pleasure to all who came in contact with him and his willingness to do any job. Kelly's awesome skills and attitude lifted others up! His infectious good humor brought a sense of fun and ease to all jobs. We hope he and his mates from local 86 will join us on future projects!"

Excellent work, Kelly!

Visit our donation page to make a donation to RTS in Kelly's honor!

RTS Energizer: Patrick del Valle, RTS Youth Board

Project leader for the RTS Youth Board, Jenny Huston, chose Patrick del Valle as one of their site's RTS Energizers.

"Patrick has been a committed RTS Youth Board member for two years, and currently serves as Youth Board President," Jenny said.  "Patrick has shown leadership throughout all of our projects, and Rebuilding Day was no exception. Patrick was one of the first people to arrive at the project site and one of the last to leave. He was willing to help out wherever he was needed, and did so with a cheerful attitude. He proved to be a true leader and we couldn't have done this project without him."

Excellent work, Patrick!

Visit our donation page to make a donation in Patrick's honor!

Hundreds of Volunteers repair homes and build playground during Building a Healthy Neighborhood

Rebuilding Together Hosts Official National Healthy Homes Pre-Conference Event with Lowe's and Carter's Kids

WASHINGTON, DC - June 17, 2011 - Rebuilding Together is hosting a special pre-conference event, Building a Healthy Neighborhood, preceding the National Healthy Homes Conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation provided a $350,000 grant to Rebuilding Together towards the Healthy Neighborhoods initiative. Building a Healthy Neighborhood is Rebuilding Together's event that will showcase the positive effects of a neighborhood that is transformed into a viable, sustainable community and serves as the official pre-event to reflect the power of change in a home. Rebuilding Together, working with its local affiliate, Rebuilding Together Metro Denver will repair and revitalize the Denver neighborhood of Barnum. On June 18 and 19 Rebuilding Together's home repairs that focus on the overall health and welfare of the homeowners and community are congruent with the objectives of the National Healthy Homes Conference: safe and healthy living standards in America's neighborhoods. More than 250 volunteers from Rebuilding Together and National Sponsors: Lowe's, Cricket Wireless, CBRE, Carter Oosterhouse's Carter's Kids, HUD, Wells Fargo, Encana, Denver Office of Strategic Partnerships, HGTV, DIY Network, and Kmart, will revitalize the Barnum community. Volunteers will perform critical improvements to more than 30 homes, distribute educational resources, and focus on comprehensive health advancements. The workscope includes: major home rehabilitations, basic improvements, accessibility modifications, energy efficient upgrades, and community landscaping. "I am honored to welcome so many volunteers to work with HUD and Rebuilding Together as we launch the national Healthy Homes conference in Denver," said Rick Garcia, HUD's Region Administrator for the Rocky Mountain Region. "We are not only putting our policies into action, but our partnership with Rebuilding Together is transforming the Barnum neighborhood into a more healthy, environmentally safer and sustainable community." In addition to the home and neighborhood projects, volunteers will also complete a new playground at Lakewood and Gulch Park, today, Friday, June 17. Carter Oosterhouse, celebrity carpenter and host of Carter Can, in association with his foundation Carter's Kids, and the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation will build the new playground, which promotes a healthy and active lifestyle for local youth. "Rebuilding Together is thrilled to be hosting the National Healthy Homes Conference's official pre-event, as well as be part of this outstanding community of housing and health leaders during the Conference," said Gary A. Officer, president and CEO of Rebuilding Together. "Rebuilding Together's work to preserve affordable homeownership reflects the goals of this Conference, which will seek to address ways in which we can all synergize our efforts to advance the health and welfare of America's communities." The National Healthy Homes Conference is an event that will bring together leaders from a range of government and nongovernment entities, whose common goal is to create real and sustainable solutions for safe and affordable housing. This incredible cross-section of leadership and organizations is hosted by: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, with the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

About Rebuilding Together Rebuilding Together is the nation's leading nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods by providing extensive rehabilitation and modification services to those in need at no cost to those served. With the help of everyday citizen volunteers, skilled trades people, the support of local business and major corporate partners, Rebuilding Together affiliates in America's largest cities and smallest towns make life considerably better for thousands of low-income homeowners and the communities in which they live by completing 10,000 projects per year. Rebuilding Together has programs dedicated to, energy efficiency, veteran's housing, aging in place and gulf coast reconstruction. For more information, visit www.RebuildingTogether.org. You can also follow Rebuilding Together on Twitter @rebldgtogthr or become a fan on Facebook at Facebook.com/RebuildingTogether. About Carter's Kids Carter's Kids is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and promoting awareness of fitness and self-esteem for America's youth. The purpose is to increase the activity level of kids by building and developing community parks and playgrounds in their neighborhoods. The kids then have the opportunity to take an active part in building up their community by using, sharing, and caring for these public spaces. www.carteroosterhouse.com About Lowe's Lowe's supports the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. The company's signature education grant program, Lowe's Toolbox for Education, has brought more than $5 million in grants to K-12 public schools every year since its inception in 2005. Lowe's Heroes employee volunteers support local community projects and our national nonprofit partners such as Habitat for Humanity International and the American Red Cross. In 2010, Lowe's and the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation together contributed more than $30 million to support communities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. To learn more, visit Lowes.com/socialresponsibility. Media Contacts: Becky Carter, Rebuilding Together, (202) 518-3500 Janice Walker, JD Walker Communications, (781) 290-6528 # # #

SRD 2011 Photo Contest Winners!!!

The results are in! The RTS office has chosen the winners of the official Spring Rebuilding Day Photo Contest in the categories of Best Before & After Photo, Group Photo, Homeowner Photo, and Action Photo. And because the office received so many great photos that didn't fit in to any category, we created a winner of the Miscellaneous Photo from SRD.

Best Before & After Photo Winner

Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati with Eric Kormondy Construction Inc.

(Photos taken by Jon McGlone)

Best Before & After Photo Runner-Up

Greenpoint Technologies

(Photos submitted by Christine Hadley)

Best Action Photo Winner

Seattle Gonzaga University Alumni

(Photo taken by Ray Loyola)

Best Action Photo Runner-Up

Youth Board of RTS

(Photo taken by Jennilee Kho)

Best Homeowner Photo Winner

Greenpoint Technologies

(Photo submitted by Christine Hadley)

Best Homeowner Photo Runner-Up

Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati with Eric Kormondy Construction Inc.

(Photo taken by Jon McGlone)

Best Group Photo Winner

Center for Spiritual Living

(Photo submitted by Kathi White)

Best Group Photo Runner-Up

Seattle Chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers

(Photo taken by Ray Loyola)

Best Miscellaneous Photo Winners

Youth Board of RTS

(Photo submitted by Jenny Huston)

Vulcan, Inc. and AGC of Washington

(Photo taken by Margie Thirlby)

RTS Energizer: Kyle Mery, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Project Leader from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Jenni Loreti, chose Kyle Mery as their site's RTS Energizer.

"You wouldn't know Kyle is 21-years-old," Jenni explained.  Between his fierce work ethic and determination, there was no task that Kyle couldn't conquer on Spring Rebuilding Day. Kyle suited up with a mask and work gloves and off he went! I can only imagine that Kyle gets such a strong work ethic from his mother. Thank you Kyle!"

Excellent work, Kyle!

Visit our donation page to make a donation in Kyle's honor!

RTS Energizer: Phil Henderson, Honeywell

Project leader for the Honeywell team, Russ Schultz, chose Phil Henderson as their site's RTS Energizer.

"Phil is one of the most capable people I’ve ever worked with. He did an absolutely amazing job completely gutting the bathroom (all the way down to new floor joists) and then leading a small group of volunteers (‘cause you couldn’t fit more than 2 people in the bathroom at a time) to amazingly transform the bathroom," Russ explained.  "Phil worked quickly the Saturday before SRD to gut the bathroom and then worked tirelessly on SRD for more than 12 hours totally re-plumbing the bathroom and then installing new joists, sub flooring, flooring, a shower stall, a vanity and a new toilet. Phil even volunteered to return on Sunday afternoon to ensure that the “new” bathroom was properly trimmed and left in absolutely beautiful condition. In addition to being extremely skilled and talented, Phil has an amazing nature that makes all of the people around him feel valued and an integral part of the team. Without a doubt Phil deserves special mention as the Honeywell SRD Energizer”

Excellent work, Phil!

Visit our donation page to make a donation to RTS in Phil's honor!

Miss Seattle Rebuilding Day (Sponsored by SEARS)

This Spring, Rebuilding Together Seattle received a grant from the SEARS Heroes at Home program to help a veteran with essential home repairs. Miss Seattle, Lauren Kuhn, wanted to host her own rebuilding day so we paired the two and we got an amazing project out of it!

Thank you to all the volunteers and family members who showed up on a beautiful Saturday to help Evelyn with multiple improvements to her home! Because Evelyn is legally blind, she has a hard time navigating around her house and property. Volunteers made safety improvements, including new lights, a new walkway to her back yard (where she likes to spend time gardening), a new back porch, new fence, and various other safety updates inside the home.

Special thank you to first time Project Manager, Tim Kuhn, for planning the project. Thank you, SEARS, for your continued support of our Veterans Program.

Evelyn (center) and her family- what great support!!

Evelyn helping out!

Jeremy working on some new lights

Hard at work

Heavy lifting

Group shot!

Miss Seattle, Lauren, and homeowner, Evelyn

Hmmmm, how should we put these pavers in?

RTS Program Manager Sarah (right), with her husband

and Young Professional Society member, Joel

More heavy lifting by board member, Arnie Mondloch, and RTS Intern Evan Dix

Look at that pretty fence-in-the-making

Project Manager, Tim Kuhn, with daughter, Lauren

Board Member of the Month: Arnie Mondloch

Arnie has been involved with RTS for many years and has been a huge asset to the organization.  Not only is Arnie on the Board of Directors, but he also serves on the RTS Finance Committee, and is the project manager for the Gonzaga Seattle Alumni every April for Spring Rebuilding Day.  Thank you for your continued dedication to RTS, Arnie!

Arnie (right) with fellow RTS Board Member, Brooke Sullivan, on Spring Rebuilding Day 2011

“Arnie has been an asset to our Board, Finance Committee, and the Rebuilding Together Seattle volunteer network for many years, " RTS Director, Margie Thirlby, said.  " Arnie has managed the Gonzaga University (Seattle Alumni Chapter’s) Spring Rebuilding Day project for a number of years.  This year, Arnie went above and beyond, taking on one of our ultimate “monster” projects of the year.   In addition to planning for an 80+ person volunteer project for over a month, Arnie ended up making numerous trips to the house after the rebuilding day, and has been relentless in his efforts to provide his team’s client with a safe and healthy living environment.   Arnie’s passion for the Rebuilding Together Seattle mission can be demonstrated by the 83+ hours he dedicated to Rebuilding Together Seattle through the months of October through May alone!  We are truly grateful for Arnie’s dedication and look forward to his continued leadership on the Board next year.”

Let's hear from Arnie!
1. How did you first get involved with RTS?
I was introduced to RTS through the Gonzaga University Alumni Association about 5 years ago, when they announced their first ever community outreach project. I had done some volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity previously, which was really rewarding, so this project really appealed to me. We were assigned to the home of 94 year old woman who was living in a house with a lot of maintenance issues with her mentally disabled son. At the morning meeting, the project manager asked if anyone had experience with spackling, and I raised my hand to help. Little did I know that this little assignment would turn out to be much more involved and would require several days of follow up to finish – but that allowed me to get to know the homeowner a bit more and she was the sweetest, most grateful person I had ever met! She followed up with a personal thank you note that really touched me and that I cherish and have kept to this day. After that experience, I was hooked and wanted to help RTS in any way that I could. Since that first year, I’ve co-lead the annual Gonzaga sponsored project as Project Manager and I was asked to join the Board of RTS almost 2 years ago.

2. What do you enjoy most about being a board member for RTS?
You just couldn’t ask for a more dedicated and energetic board than the one we have! We come from all different backgrounds and experiences and the combination allows for active participation and good, healthy, respectful conversations about the direction of the organization. This is not one of those passive boards that meets to be informed by the staff – this is the most active and involved board that I’ve ever been a part of; everyone rolls up their sleeves and “gets the their hands dirty” – just as it should be!

3. What are your hopes for RTS in the years to come?
The organization today operates on a shoe-string budget; the amount we can get done with the funding we have available is really quite amazing! While I like the fact that so much of our annual operating budget goes right back to the homeowners through our projects, we need to continue to tell our story and look for opportunities to promote our mission both to potential sponsors as well as to deserving homeowners. As a board member, keeping the organization in good shape financially is of paramount importance to be able to continue to fulfill our mission.

I am also very excited about the potential of the year-round program, which should encourage homeowners in need to contact us before their homes get in the desperate conditions that we’ve seen on our big build days. This is definitely the case of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure” and I would think it would benefit us all if we could get in earlier to resolve issues before they cause other, more serious issues. I hope we can continue to build out the year round program with resources and funding to expand the reach of this important aspect of RTS.

A small peek into Arnie's Spring Rebuilding Day project!  Before and After:

Volunteer of the Month: Jeff Haines

Jeff recently became involved with Rebuilding Together Seattle, and he jumped right in with managing his very own rebuilding day!  Jeff works for North Coast Electric and managed their first rebuilding day with RTS in May.  It was a great success and homeowner, Jimmie, was very pleased with all the safety repairs and upgrades made at her home in Capital Hill.

Jeff (right) with RTS Board Member, Charlie Foushee

1. Why did you choose to get involved with RTS? How long have you been volunteering with RTS?


Last year I was introduced to RTS through a friend on the board of directors. I really liked RTS’s mission and thought it would be a great opportunity for my company to give back to the community. This May we completed our first RTS event.

2. What do you enjoy the most about working with our organization?

I’m amazed at how much can get done in such a short period of time, especially when you have a good team of people and leadership. Also, the RTS staff is incredibly helpful when preparing for your rebuilding day.

3. What do your colleagues or other volunteers say about RTS? Why do they want to volunteer their time?

Nobody from our team was aware of RTS before the rebuilding day, but they were all eager to help and had been looking for an opportunity to volunteer their time for the community. Following our project, feedback for the organization was very positive and I think we have another handful of advocates.

4. What about RTS’ mission are you most drawn to?

Providing safety, warmth, and independence to those in need. I think we often times take for granted these basic necessities in life and it’s a good way to remind us to be thankful for what we have and what we can help give to others.

Great work, Jeff!

 Thank you for your support of RTS!!