Repairing homes and rebuilding lives since 1988.
Greetings!

Our hearts are warmed by the confidence and support of [Re]Builders like you, who are committed to helping our neighbors in need. The outpouring of contributions on Giving Tuesday and during our end-of-year fundraising campaign is testament to your commitment to safe and healthy homes for everyone.

Your support empowers families and seniors in need to stay in the homes and neighborhoods where they've developed communities and friendships, preserves generational wealth, and allows our older neighbors to age in place safely.

I'm grateful to our volunteers and staff for their caring nature and the incredible amount of work they've done for our neighbors. Our volunteers made repairs and modifications on 69 homes and one nonprofit residence since we started our new fiscal year on July 1 - an average of 11 projects a month.

Our corporate partners allowed us to complete deep repairs and modifications for four homeowners and one nonprofit residential facility this fall. Wells Fargo, Navy Federal Credit Union, Morgan Stanley and KBR provided funding and their teams came together for hands-on workdays. Wells Fargo provided a large grant that allowed us to complete deep repairs for Katie in Falls Church. Please read Katie's story below. Our RT Express teams continue to work weekly and account for about 70% of the projects we complete, primarily serving seniors who are aging in place.

We recently published our "Year in Review," where we share our accomplishments and give you a look at many different aspects of our organization during our 2023 fiscal year. Click here to read it online.

Please save the date - National Rebuilding Day is Saturday, April 27, 2024.

We wish you a safe, healthy and peaceful holiday season. Thank you for making this year possible.

#WeAreRebuilders
Patti Klein
Executive Director
P.S. Pictured above right are Don Ryan, Director of Partnerships, me, Katie, and Bill Marshall, RT-AFF Board member and RT Express Team Leader (l-r), at the ribbon cutting ceremony where we celebrated the completion of our work on Katie's home. Please read on to learn more.
Wells Fargo Grant
Katie and her daughter have a safe and healthy home.
Katie and her daughter are back in their home in time for the holidays! The 1943 home Katie shared with her husband and daughter had fallen into disrepair due to poor maintenance aggravated by shortcuts that a remodeler had made 12 years ago. After James passed away in 2022 due to alcohol use disorder, Katie didn't have the money to repair the home so she and her daughter moved in with her parents. Katie heard about Rebuilding Together-AFF and applied, thinking we would be able to make some minor repairs. A generous grant from Wells Fargo made it possible for RT-AFF to hire contractors and complete deep repairs.

The home had a wet basement, other extensive moisture problems, poor ventilation, plumbing leaks, electrical problems, and failing mechanical systems.

Professional contractors were hired for major grading, a French drain, and extensive plumbing repairs. USAA Insurance replaced the roof, and Washington Gas funded replacement of the furnace and water heater. At the expert direction of our volunteer team leader, our volunteer teams made more than 80 repairs to make this home safe and healthy. The repairs corrected 18 health and safety priorities and now Katie's home meets all 25 RT-AFF Health and Safety Priorities.

Forty-three volunteers worked 634 hours over the course of 5 months to make it possible for Katie and her daughter to return home.

A team of volunteers from Wells Fargo took a day away from their offices to do hands-on work at Katie's. They made critical progress including digging trenches and laying pipes to move water from the downspouts away from Katie's home, finishing the deck, painting indoors and out, and cleaning up the yard.

"My daughter and I are thrilled to be back in our own home for Christmas and the new year! Our home is beautiful inside and out thanks to Rebuilding Together, Wells Fargo, and all the volunteers involved.

I was not expecting the miraculous transformation of our home that was accomplished. My daughter is excited about being back in her beautiful pink room!

Thank you for helping us stay in our own home and rebuild our lives after the loss of James. We miss him, but are excited about the future."

We've posted two photo albums on our Flickr showing our work on Katie's home.

We are also excited to share the television coverage from our local ABC and NBC news affiliates, which you can watch by clicking the links below. Media coverage helps us share our mission of safe homes and communities for everyone to a wide audience.

NBC 4 covered the Wells Fargo Team work day.

ABC 7 News covered the Ribbon Cutting event
Lowe's Partnership Provides Materials for RT-AFF Projects
Lowe's has been a valuable national partner with Rebuilding Together since 2007. This year Lowe's provided RT-AFF with $6,000 in store credit which allowed us to purchase materials like lumber, grab bars, dryer ducts, light fixtures, washer hoses, stair rail brackets and many other items that we used for RT Express projects. The generous support from Lowe's helps us fund the RT Express program so we can help more of our neighbors.
Bingo!
RT-AFF Board member Dawn Wilson hosted a Bingo event to raise funds and friends for our programs. It was great fun and nice to see some of our volunteers (especially those who walked away with prizes) and meet new friends. We are grateful to Dawn and the many people who donated fabulous gifts and food for the event.
RT-AFF board member Liz Zembruski with Whitney Wilson
RT-AFF board members Don Metcalf (bingo caller) and
Dawn Wilson, who organized
the Bingo event.
Volunteer Brian Cobb verifying his raffle ticket with RT-AFF board member Richard Donohoe
Support Rebuilding Together Arlington/Fairfax/Falls Church
If you had to choose, would you pay for a medicine or pay for a plumber? Would you feed the family or fix your leaky gutters? These are choices our low-income neighbors have to make every day. We can help make these choices easier together. Please contribute today so Rebuilding Together -AFF can continue to provide free home repairs and modifications for our neighbors in need.
Support Rebuilding Together - AFF through the Combined Federal Campaign by designating #57363. Federal and Military employees and retirees can support our work via payroll or retirement annuity deduction. You can find the CFC pledge forms and other materials here.
Rebuilding Together Arlington/Fairfax/Falls Church
Phone 703.528.1999 | Fax 703.528.1197
info@rebuildingtogether-aff.org | www.rebuildingtogether-aff.org