We are Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland.

Our mission is to preserve and revitalize homes in the Greater Portland community, assuring that low-income homeowners, from the elderly and disabled to families with children, live in warmth, safety, and independence.  In partnership with local corporations and communities, our goal is to make a sustainable impact.
 

Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland is a volunteer non-profit organization that performs maintenance and rehabilitation work - free of charge - for elderly, disabled and low-income people.  Formerly called "Christmas in April," the Greater Portland Organization is local chapter of a National Organization with more than 260 chapters nationwide who provide their services during a one-day blitz in the spring.

In the past ten years, our local organization has worked on over 100 homes in Greater Portland, performing work valued at more than $500,000. Led by skilled professionals who volunteer their time, teams of volunteers fan out across Greater Portland on the appointed day (usually the last Saturday of April or first Saturday of May) improving people's lives by making their homes more habitable.  Last year, for instance, over 100 volunteers spent an estimated 1,000 hours of free work repairing 10 homes in the Greater Portland Area for elderly, disabled or low-income homeowners.

Through corporate sponsorships and other donations, Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland procures the appropriate materials to complete the work. The teams begin the work early in the day, striving to complete their project by sundown.

Rebuilding Together teams provide all kinds of assistance, from replacing roofs and windows to repairing porches and steps. In addition, the organization helps build wheelchair ramps and helps to install items such as grab bars in bathrooms which can help make a home more safe for an elderly or disabled person. Rebuilding Together focuses its efforts on elderly, disabled and low-income people who own their own homes. That makes this program unique in that there are many programs which help people to achieve home ownership but few which provide assistance to maintain or fix a home. While many of these people have achieved the American dream of owning their own home, they get overwhelmed both financially and psychologically by the demands of maintaining it.

Homeowners are carefully selected through an application process which includes income thresholds and a home inspection.

If you are interested in helping Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland, either through a donation of money or materials or by volunteering, call us at 791-3529 or send an email to info@rtportland.org

RebuildingTogether*GreaterPortland   Last Edited: 11/15/2008