Recent News & Events

New Orleans Bound: Paul Sciannella, a long-time House Captain with Ashton United Methodist Church, is planning his annual trip down to New Orleans for some much needed volunteer home repair work. Interested participants would need to be in New Orleans by 6pm on Sunday February 8th and will be finished Friday afternoon February 13th.  Once in New Orleans, lodging, meals and local transportation are all provided free of charge. You must pay your own way to New Orleans, and currently flights are running around $200 and up round trip.  If you are interested in participating, please contact Paul directly at paul.sciannella@frb.gov.             

AmeriCorps Comes to RTMC:  RTMC is pleased to welcome Bill Kauffman and Ana Cimino, our two new AmeriCorps Members, to the RTMC team. Bill will serve as Construction Coordinator and Ana will serve as Outreach Coordinator. While their jobs are very different, they have the shared goal of building capacity for RTMC – we wish them every success!

Leading the Way:  Susan Hawfield has been accepted into the 2009 Class of Leadership Montgomery.  Susan is embarking on a 9 month journey to learn the county inside and out, while networking with other leaders. RTMC feels very fortunate to benefit from Susan’s experiences.

Along those lines, RTMC was accepted as one of seven community projects by Leadership Montgomery. Through this program, a team of Leadership Montgomery members will work to develop a Corporate Team-Building Experience for Rebuilding Together. This program should open up new avenues of partners and funding to RTMC, as well as serve as a model for other affiliates around the country. Many thanks to Andy Shulman for his assistance in developing the proposal!

Fundraising Successes

Get More From Your Vacation:  You can support RTMC even as you soak up the rays or vacation with your family. RTMC has a partnership with YTB Travel, a website comparable to expedia or orbitz, but where RTMC receives 40% of the commission on booked travel. By booking your vacations on our site, you are supporting RTMC at no additional cost to yourself! For more information, go to http://www.ytbtravel.com/rebuildingtogether. Don’t forget about Thanksgiving and New Year’s travel plans!

New Grants:  RTMC is pleased to announce several new grants for FY2009:

• Lowe’s Charitable Foundation has awarded RTMC a grant of $10,000. This grant will be used to make needed repairs to two homes this fall on October 25th, “Make a Difference Day”, a national day of service.
• The RTMC Golf Classic has raised over $68,000 with nearly a month left to go! Sponsorship opportunities are still available, but we’d like to take a moment to thank those who have already committed to the tournament:

Presenting Sponsors

TW Perry

Monument Bank

Platinum Sponsors

AZEK Trimboards

Madison Wood Preservers

Cocktail/Bar Sponsor                                          Awards Banquet Sponsor

Bart & Associates, Inc.                                              Bart & Associates, Inc.

 Foursomes

Adventist Healthcare

Courtney G. Springirth, Chtd.

Frontier Construction Company, Inc.

Gibbons Design & Build, Inc.

Horstmeier Lumber, Inc.

James Hardie Building Products, Inc.

Lively, Ostrye & Worch

Matthews General Contracting, Inc.

Meridian Construction Company

Roger Rothman & Friends

Sandy Spring Builders, LLC

Sundecks, Inc.

US Lumber

Twosomes

Bonsal American

Beverage Cart Sponsor

Bart & Associates, Inc.

Freestate Electric

US Lumber

Driving Range Sponors

Horstmeier Lumber Company

Hole & Tee Sponsors

Daro Realty, Inc.

Dow Building Solutions

Linowes and Blocher, LLP

Meridian Construction Company

Northwestern Mutual

Signs of Progress

Wagner Roofing

RT National News

 The Need is Great:  The Joint Center for Housing Studies recently released The State of the Nation's Housing 2008 report.  The report discusses the current housing crisis and projections for the future.  Read more now online.

 A Year in Review:  RT national has released their 2007 Annual Report. You can check out a copy of it by going to their website: http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/content/resource/detail/2860/. RTMC was pleased to see that one of our projects held in partnership with the national office was featured on page 2 and 9 – many thanks to our poster-family, Ryan and Lorrie Knight-Major!

Getting Involved

Volunteer Opportunities:  We are looking for a few good men (or women!).

• September 27th (Saturday) – volunteers needed to man a booth with Home Depot at the Montgomery County Housing Fair – build the brand of RTMC while strengthening our partnership with Home Depot by assisting children in the construction of bird houses. 4 hour shifts available, fair runs from 10am – 3pm. Contact Ana Cimino at acimino@rebuildingtogethermc.org.
• October 5th (Sunday) – volunteers needed to man a booth at the Takoma Park Festival in Takoma Park. 4 hour shifts available from 10am – 5pm. Contact Ana Cimino at acimino@rebuildingtogethermc.org        
• Flexible – 1-2 volunteers needed to provide gutter repairs for a ranch-style home in Silver Spring. Contact Scot Weeks at sweeks@rebuildingtogethermc.org
• Flexible – 1 volunteer needed to rebuild 4-5 window screen frames for a family on the Gaithersburg/Rockville border. Contact Scot Weeks at sweeks@rebuildingtogethermc.org
• Flexible - 2 volunteers with carpentry skills needed to install wooden porch columns and repair a fence gate for a home in Silver Spring. Contact Scot Weeks at sweeks@rebuildingtogethermc.org
• Flexible - 2-3 volunteers needed to lay topsoil and install a wood stair rail at a home in Silver Spring. Contact Scot Weeks at sweeks@rebuildingtogethermc.org
• Ongoing – administrative work in the RTMC office including filing, database entry, etc. – contact Kathy Thrower at kthrower@rebuildingtogethermc.org
• Ongoing – every third Saturday of the month, RTMC partners with Hearts & Hands to participate in a small community project. If you’d like to be involved, please contact Chris Hoffman at: jhoffman@geico.com

Ways to Give:  RTMC thanks you for all the ways you participate in our program!

• Time: see opportunities above
• Cash: give securely online at www.rebuildingtogethermc.org or contact Lee Berkeley Shaw at lshaw@rebuildingtogethermc.org for more information
• Outreach: link RTMC to potential partners or sponsors – contact Lee Berkeley Shaw at lshaw@rebuildingtogethermc.org for more information
• VACATION OR BUSINESS: RTMC receives 40% of commissions if you book your summer travel through our website – prices and search engine are the same as expedia, orbitz, etc. To support RTMC even as you spend the holidays with your family, go to: http://www.ytbtravel.com/rebuildingtogether