Category: Stories

Maria E. has not just taken on the role of wife or mother to her own children, but now she’s grandma too. With seven children and twenty-six grandchildren, Maria loves to spend time with her family. Her house has now not only become a place for the grandkids to come and play, but also home to four of them.

After her oldest son was killed in a drive-by shooting, Maria decided she would become mom to his four children. The kids now in the 8th, 7th, 6th and 4th grade keep her plenty busy, but she loves looking after them.

“They’ll come home from school and play outside. They like to play basketball on the goal outside,” Maria said. “We’ll go to the park sometimes when they get home from school or we’ll go to the movies sometimes.”

In her free time, Maria enjoys cooking. Her family requests her cooking regularly, so much so that she’s cooking all the food for her granddaughter’s quinceañera. Her specialty is enchiladas and tacos.

When Maria isn’t busy taking care of the grandkids, she likes to go shopping for new decorations for her home. Before she was full-time grandma, Maria worked for JcPenny’s and for the Capital School Board. She is currently looking for another job to give her something to do while the kids are at school.

She is excited for Rebuilding Together to come and fix up her house, since her house has become a place for her family to come and spend time together.

To help support our work on Ms. E’s home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

It doesn’t matter what they’re going through, Donna and Donald C. are in it together. Donna and Donald have spent their lives together, not just in the past sixty-one years of marriage, but even before they were married.  These two were neighbors and more importantly, friends.

“He was nice-lookin’ and a ball player,” Donna said. “All the kids in the neighborhood would go down to a park down the street and hang out together. That’s how we met.”

The two friends married in 1952 and have been inseparable ever since, creating a family and a life together. They value family and the way they see it, family doesn’t give up on one another.  Today their family consists of four children, seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and even one great-great-grandchild.

“Sixty-one or sixty-two years is a long-time with someone, but his family has been my family,” Donna said. “And if you’re lucky enough to have a family like that, where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Donna and Donald make it a priority to spend time with their children.  They’re determined to pass on family values, just as both of their parents passed values onto them.  Whether they take camping trips all together or watching the younger generations continue the family tradition of “playing ball,” these proud grandparents are constantly rooting on their grandkids.  As a family, they enjoy fishing trips and being outside. Donna and Donald always try to support their family in any way they can because that’s what family does.

Reflecting back on the decades they have spent together and the years ahead of them, Donald and Donna are quick to love and to remember that they are a family first.

“We’ve had a real active life. You have to work at it,” Donna said. “It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been almost perfect.”

A Rebuilding Day volunteer team will help this family by replacing 10 windows in their home.  The team is also going to paint the entire house, including the bedrooms, living room, bathroom, tv room, dining room and hallway.

To help support our work on Donna and Donald’s home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

Ms. Mary P. lives in Oklahoma City with her puppy dog.  She has been in her home for 36 years.  Her house is very old and she has done a lot to take care of it and keep it clean.  Due to her age and mobility issues, Mary has struggled to complete larger repairs on her home.   She believes help from Rebuilding Together will allow her more independence and mobility, as well as allow her to continue to live in her own home.

Ms. P. is totally deaf.   She was born hearing and became deaf due to illness and a high fever.  Her husband and love of her life past away 17 years ago.  Together they had three children: Gary, Johnny and Sam.  Johnny spends a lot of time with his mother.  He helps translate for her through sign language.  When Johnny can’t help, Mary has a translation system built into her phone and television.  An interpreter will speak with the caller and sign into a video camera that plays on Mary’s television.  She is able to talk with her friends and family over the phone this way.  Mary is also very active in her church.

Due to a hail storm two years ago, Mary’s insurance put a new roof on her home.  Rebuilding Together wants to continue to make repairs for Ms. Mary.  Our volunteers have already replaced her shower and inserted grab bars in the bathroom.  A volunteer team will work on Rebuilding Day, April 13, painting the interior and exterior of the home, repairing water damage in the dining room, and replacing the storm door.

To help support our work on Mary’s home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

Marie has always enjoyed helping people.  Her life has been spent taking care of others. From her years of experience in the social work field to becoming the primary caretaker of her parents, Marie gives much of her time and energy towards helping the people in her life.

Born in Wichita, Marie and her seven siblings eventually moved to Oklahoma with their parents. Marie was raised to appreciate her heritage. Her mother was a member of the Kiowa Tribe and her father was French. Marie remembers spending time at pow wows and learning how to dance.  She found an identity and purpose in her native roots.

“There was always something that felt like it was missing in me,” Marie said. “I didn’t quite know what it was till we went to pow wows.”

Despite being the youngest, Marie felt closest to her parents, so it was no surprise when she moved into their home full-time. In 2002, both of her parents passed away within months of each other. Since then, Marie has continued living there and preserves the memory of her parents with pictures and Kiowa memorabilia important to their family.

During her professional life, Marie worked as a substance abuse counselor, a nurse’s aide and as a social worker specifically with Native Americans.

Marie has stopped working because of recent medical issues, including being diagnosed with epilepsy. She now lives with her son who helps to take care of her. She has two chihuahuas that keep her company while her son is at work.

On Rebuilding Day, April 13, a volunteer team will assist Ms. Marie with needed repairs to her home.  The team is going to weatherize her home to prepare for extreme summer temperatures, replace a light switch in the living room, and painting the interior and exterior of the home.

To help support our work on Marie’s home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

All they needed was a week. That’s all it took for Addie and her late husband to know that they were meant to be together. They first met in a little cafe in Colorado. Addie was just twenty at the time she married, but their marriage lasted forty years.

Before her marriage, Addie spent much of her life in Colorado where her and her friends would run around the foothills riding bikes and going on hikes. In her teenage years, her and her friends would roller skate every Friday and Saturday, while they would socialize with the boys from the nearby Air Force base.

Growing up, Addie’s father had a sense of “wanderlust,” which led to them moving around Colorado frequently, where he pursued different careers. It wasn’t much different for Addie’s husband. When they were first married he had several different jobs, however, he found his real niche when he became a handyman for a real estate agent.

Addie and her husband didn’t have kids for the first ten years they were married, which left them with time for plenty of adventures together.

“We had a lot of fun,” Addie said. “We bowled in leagues together. We would go camping in the Red Woods. If we decided we wanted to go somewhere, we just packed up and went.”

During their forty years of marriage, they eventually had three children. They moved from Colorado to Long Beach, California just after their third child was born. Their family spent time together camping and enjoying the outdoors. Addie also helped with her kids’ Girl Scout and Blue Bird troops.

In 2001, Addie’s husband passed away from cancer, and that’s when she decided to move to Oklahoma to be closer to her daughters.

Addie doesn’t leave home much after having health problems with her brain and back, but she does attend church at Del City Church of Christ. She enjoys playing bingo and spending time with her children and six grandchildren. Addie also owns two cats and a quail that live with her.

Rebuilding Together will replace and repair doors throughout Addie’s home, install a new toilet and fix bathroom drains, replace carpet in the master bedroom, install grab bars for safety, and paint most rooms in the home on Rebuilding Day – April 13!

To help support our work on Addie’ home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

Mr. James F is currently in the hospital facing several severe health issues.  His wife and family have stuck by his side, praying he will be healed and can return home.  He and his wife, Joy, have lived in their OKC home for over 40 years.  With the couple’s low-income, hospital bills and Mr. F’s physical disabilities, the family is unable to keep up with renovations.

Rebuilding Together OKC has selected James as a Rebuilding Day homeowner.  On Rebuilding Day – April 13 – a volunteer team will remodel the interior and exterior of James and Joy’s home.  Beginning with the exterior our team is going to trim branches and shrubs, paint the house and hand rails on the porch, fix outdoor lighting, and caulk doors and windows.

Inside the home, volunteers will replace the toilet and fix flooring, repair tiles around the bathtub, replace lighting and put up blinds.  A carpentry crew will build a frame and mount the AC unit into the living room window and a bedroom window.  In the kitchen, a team will replace flooring, as well as trim and caulk.  The utility room will receive a fresh coat of paint.

We hope that Mr. F can return to his home very soon, and be even more comfortable and safe than he was before.

To help support our work on James and Joy’s home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

Katherine E is no stranger to hard work. The first born of three kids in Searcy, Arkansas, she went on to become the first female employee at Arkansas Power and Light.

“I was the only person to be put on the cover of their magazine, except for the president of the company. I still have a copy,” Katherine said.

After working at Arkansas Power and Light, Katherine decided to take on another first as Arkansas’ first female state trooper.

“I had a friend ask me if I had ever thought about working for the state police,” Katherine said. “They gave me my own car. They all treated me like I was one of the family.”

Before entering the work force, Katherine grew up on her parents’ farm, learning how to take care of herself. She spent her childhood chopping and picking cotton, just to mention a few of her regular responsibilities. Katherine also picked up whatever she could from her father as he worked around the farm.

“If my dad was working under the car, I went under there with him,” Katherine said. “If he opened up the hood, I stood up on the bumper next to him.”

Katherine lived on the farm until she married her first husband, but it wasn’t until 1978, after marrying her second husband, that she moved from her home state of Arkansas to Oklahoma, where she took a job as a security officer at the OU Health and Sciences Center.

Katherine has lived in her current home for over seventeen years, where her three children and grandkids still come to visit. She spends her time now cheering on the OKC Thunder and staying connected to friends through phone and even Facebook.

In 2000, Katherine suffered a heart attack, and while she was still able to take care of herself, it slowed her life down. Six years later, she was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, which left her even more limited in her daily activities.

“I built the shed out back and laid the patio by myself,” Katherine said. “You should have seen the state of this place when I first moved in. I did all of the work on it until recently.”

On Rebuilding Day, a volunteer team will remodel the interior of Ms. Katherine’s home.  Our volunteers will patch cracks in the walls of her home, paint the interior, help to clean and declutter her carport, and also repair her outdoor shed.

To help support our work on Katherine’s home and many more like it in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!

Rebuilding Together OKC hosts Annual National Rebuilding Day on April 13, 2013 in Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City – On Saturday April 13 more than one thousand volunteers from the Oklahoma City metro area will provide free home remodels and safety modifications for their elderly neighbors through Rebuilding Together OKC’s National Rebuilding Day program.  This year, thirty-three volunteer teams from OKC businesses, schools, churches and civic organizations will spend their Saturday rebuilding lives and neighborhoods, making homes safe, warm and dry.

Every spring since 1992, our “Rebuilding Day” event has taken place and volunteer teams have repaired over 2,000 homes of low-income seniors in the OKC community. Rebuilding Together teams complete repairs such as: interior and exterior painting, falls prevention, kitchen repairs, hanging new doors and windows, replacing roofs, installing grab bars and building wheelchair ramps.

Our 2013 volunteer teams include AFFSA, Antioch Christian, ATC Freightliner, AT&T/Pioneers, Boeing, Chapel Hill, Chesapeake, Church of the Servant, Cosspointe Community Church, Crosstown Church, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Faith Bible, Guernsey, Highland Baptist Church, Heritage Hall, Mayflower Congregational UCC, McAfee and Taft, OC ALC Tinker AFB, OG&E, OKOTA, PL Studios, St. Anthony, St. Luke’s United Methodist, The Hartford, The Village UMC, United Petroleum Transports, VQ4 CPO 365, and Vericrest Financial.

Rebuilding Day is made possible by our sponsors: ATC Freightliner, Areawide Aging Agency, Chesapeake Energy, Inasmuch Foundation, Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Brewer One Carpet, Boeing Employees Community Foundation, Bank of America, Principal Technologies, Lowe’s, Home Instead Senior Care Foundation, Mutual Assurance Administrators, Southwest General Contractors, Mayflower Congregational Church, Jenco Roofing, Big Sky Roofing, Aegis Roofing, Re-Roof America, United Association of Storm Recovery Contractors, Jess and Sarah Baxter, OG&E, Bank of the West, Harris Foundation, Sears, Denner Roofing Company, Better Days Foundation, 7-Eleven, Meinders Foundation, C.H. Guernsey & Co., Chapel Hill UMC, AT&T Pioneers, and Majestic Roofing.

Rebuilding Together OKC is still accepting donations to support Rebuilding Day and our Year-Round Programs.  Beginning now until June 15 we have the potential to raise at least $200,000!  Our goal is to raise $100,000 in NEW or INCREASED donations and an anonymous donor will gladly match our fundraising dollar for dollar. Visit our website www.rebuildingtogetherokc.org or call 405-607-0464 to learn more!

Rebuilding Together OKC brings volunteers and communities together to improve the homes and lives of low-income, elderly homeowners in the Oklahoma City metro area. Through our Year-Round Emergency Repair / Home Modification Program and our annual Rebuilding Day Program, we provide free home repairs, emergency home repairs and home modifications that foster safer mobility and independence, changing the lives of our elderly neighbors so they can age in place with grace and dignity.  For more information visit www.rebuildingtogetherokc.org

Sears Heroes at Home program, which includes a collaboration between Sears Holdings and Rebuilding Together, announced the beginning of their spring 2013 Heroes at Home projects. Heroes at Home projects are key initiatives for Rebuilding Together, a Safe and Healthy Housing organization that believes Community Starts at Home, and strive to improve the lives of the military and their families through extensive home rehabilitations.

Rebuilding Together OKC will be assisting Noah and Pearl L. on Rebuilding Day, April 13.  Noah served our country in both World War II and the Korean War.  You can read his story here.   More than fifty volunteers from Rebuilding Together OKC, PL Studios and Sears will complete repairs to the interior and exterior structure of the home, weatherization tasks, painting and cleaning.

“Heroes at Home is a terrific opportunity for us to give back to the men and women who have given so much to our country,” said John L Fiegel, interim president and CEO of Rebuilding Together. “Rebuilding Together and Sears work to ensure that our veterans can return to a safe, healthy, and accessible home.”

Heroes at Home projects are scheduled to be completed in more than 75 cities across the country. The projects include renovations for veterans who are unable to live in their current home conditions, due to injuries or obstacles that threaten their avenue to a safe and accessible home.

“Sears Heroes at Home program allows our associates, SHOP YOUR WAY REWARDS℠ Members and customers the opportunity to participate not only in the rebuilding of homes, but also in the transformation of lives,” said Ron Boire, executive vice president, chief merchandising officer and president, Sears and Kmart Formats. “It is our collective honor to assist America’s veterans and their families, who have given so much to protect our freedom, by providing the resources necessary so that they can improve their living conditions.”

To date, Sears Holdings has raised nearly $17 million for Heroes at Home through a nationwide in-store fund-raising campaign. This is one of the hundreds of projects made possible by these donations.  Rebuilding Together has completed more than 1,100 projects for veteran homeowners across the country.  The success of this program is only expected to rise as more projects are completed.

Heroes at Home spring rebuilds will begin in March and conclude in June.

Mr. T has M.S. and is in a motorized wheelchair.  He can rise from the chair to take a few steps if he has something to hold onto, but he spends most of the day in his chair.  Juan has lived in his OKC home 8 years, and has been unable to provide the repairs he needs to get around his home safety.

Though he broke his leg and shoulder last fall and was moved into his sisters home, Juan insisted that he remain independent in his own home after he recovered.  Now back where he feels comfortable under his own roof, Rebuilding Together has been working to improve Mr. T’s living conditions.

An individual volunteer with Rebuilding Together, remodeled Juan’s bathroom giving him more space and providing safety modifications to his toilet and shower.  On Rebuilding Day, a volunteer team will continue work on Juan’s home.

To help support our work on more than 30 homes in the OKC metro on Rebuilding Day, you can donate today and a generous donor will match your financial contribution dollar-for-dollar!!  Are you up to the challenge?!  Click here to DONATE NOW!