July 2022 Edition

Hello All,

Our new fiscal year is off to a great start! This past month we welcomed RTMC's newest staff member, Gabrielle Garcia, who will be working as our Home Assessment & Project Coordinator. We are also excited to announce that Matthew Saunders has been promoted to Senior Manager of Program Services and will be leading our program team, and that Joni Keaton has been promoted to Community Engagement Manager and will continue to drive our communications and development efforts.

We have several fantastic events coming up that you won't want to miss. Our community She Builds project will be held on September 9th, and we look forward to bringing together women volunteers in our community to repair and revitalize a women-focused community space. Our annual Golf Tournament will be held on October 3rd, and there is still plenty of time to sponsor to help us raise the funds needed to support our critical home repair work.

We are so grateful to our amazing board, staff team, volunteers, community partners, and donors for supporting our mission and helping us to achieve our goal of serving 150 families last fiscal year. I am excited to announce that this fiscal year, we have a goal to serve 180 families and to deepen our impact. We look forward to partnering with our RTMC community to make it happen. 

With gratitude,

Maury Peterson

Executive Director

We are excited to be hosting a community She Builds project this fall! Volunteering for this project will be open to all female-identified members of the community, and the project will take place on Friday, September 9th as a day of service in honor of the anniversary of September 11th.

She Builds volunteers will complete final repairs and revitalization efforts at Stepping Stones Shelter, a nonprofit that provides emergency shelter, permanent supportive housing, and post-shelter support for homeless families with children. Over the past several months, RTMC has worked closely with the Executive Director at Stepping Stones Shelter, Stacey Gold, to identify repair needs at the shelter and organize a series of volunteer projects to address these issues. The shelter is located in a large historic farmhouse in Rockville built over 100 years ago, and requires significant upkeep to ensure it continues to be a safe and healthy place for community members to reside.

This past year, Stepping Stones Shelter served 24 families experiencing homelessness, helping to ensure that both parents and children had a place to live and the expertise needed to help them get back on their feet. The repairs completed by RTMC volunteers support the wellbeing of each resident during their time at the shelter, and RTMC is proud to partner with Stepping Stones Shelter to support our community members.

This She Builds project will be coordinated by Beki Mitiku, RTMC’s AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator. Every AmeriCorps member that serves with RTMC organizes an independent service project as part of their term with us, and Beki will be taking on the planning and coordination for this event as her service project. Beki has done incredible work during her time at RTMC, greatly increasing the capacity of the organization with her high attention to detail and meticulous work ethic. We are excited to support her as she takes on She Builds!

RTMC Golf Tournament

Our Tournament Sponsors:

Carey's Mechanical LLC

Miller & Long Concrete Construction

Novavax, Inc.

Join us for our annual RTMC golf tournament on Monday, October 3rd, 2022. All proceeds help us to continue our mission of repairing homes, revitalizing communities, and rebuilding lives for our vulnerable neighbors in Montgomery County. We look forward to welcoming all corporate executives, civic leaders, skilled-trades professionals, and community leaders to our event. Visit our updated golf website to learn more and register today.

Please note that due to overwhelming demand, we are now officially sold out of golf slots. There are still plenty of other sponsorship levels available, however, that will go straight to the bottom line of helping to provide critical home repairs for our neighbors, and we hope you will join us in sponsorship for the tournament. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to sponsor the tournament to date - we are so grateful to all of our amazing partners. 

Please contact Joni Keaton at JKeaton@rebuildingtogethermc.org with any questions.

RTMC staff members Matthew Saunders and Joni Keaton traveled to Minneapolis last week to participate in a series of trainings organized by the Rebuilding Together National Office, which ranged from topics of leadership, to the AmeriCorps program, to diversity, equity, and, inclusion in action. Mat and Joni are excited to bring what they learned back to our affiliate and to use this new knowledge to inform their work at RTMC. While at the conference, Mat and Joni also had the opportunity to meet staff members from other RT affiliates around the country and to exchange ideas about best practices and how to overcome challenges to best serve our homeowners. Mat and Joni were particularly excited to connect with three of the amazing staff members from the Rebuilding Together Baltimore affiliate, who are doing incredible work in their community just over an hour away from our office. We hope to continue to build connections with other RT affiliates to work together toward our common mission of repairing homes, revitalizing communities, and rebuilding lives in all of our communities.

Please join us in welcoming the newest RTMC staff member, Gabrielle Garcia! Gabby joined us as Home Assessment & Project Coordinator mid-July, and we are thrilled to have her on the team. Gabby is originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and moved to Maryland after graduating from Duquesne University with a B.S. in Music Education. Having worked as a volunteer in the Pittsburgh community and abroad, she is excited to bring her experience to the RTMC team's efforts to help the local community. In her role at RTMC, Gabby will be responsible for coordinating repair programs to ensure that our homeowners receive the assistance they need.

Send Gabby a message at GGarcia@rebuildingtogethermc.org to say hello and help welcome her to the RTMC community!

Homeowner Stories: Our Neighbors, Mr. & Mrs. L.

Mr. & Mrs. L. with RTMC AmeriCorps Project Coordinator Vivian

Mr. and Mrs. L. have been living in their home in Silver Spring for over 30 years, the home where they raised their children and that in recent years has been filled with the laughter and joy and of their grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. L. needed a helping hand to ensure that their home would continue to be a safe and healthy place for their family to live, and our partners at DAVIS Construction completed a series of life-changing repairs during National Rebuilding Day this past spring. Repairs included a full roof replacement, window replacement, replacement and painting of  exterior and window trim, patching of damaged drywall, replacement of the front porch handrail, replacement of fence posts, replacement of damaged kitchen flooring, installation of a handrail going upstairs, painting, caulking, gutter and downspout repairs, and general landscaping. We are so glad to have been able to help Mr. and Mrs. L. and that their home will continue to be a safe and healthy place for their family to thrive in the years to come.