Over 100 volunteers with hard hats and hammers in hand descended on a neighborhood block in Denver early Wednesday to begin repair work on a community center and four nearby homes.
The building project is part of the Rebuild-A-Block series, a partnership between Lowe’s and Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit that provides critical home repairs to low-income homeowners.
The project, previously held in Seattle, Dallas and New York City, requires two days of intensive repair work.
“We launched this to help our people love where they live,” said Ben Stewart, Lowe’s market director for Colorado and Wyoming. “This feels like one of our biggest projects yet — we have over 100 associates here working.”
Kristen Kidd, the public information director for the Rebuilding Together Metro Denver branch, said homeowners are often recommended by neighbors or family members.
“Most of the homeowners we work with can’t afford to do the fixes necessary to keep them safe, so we’ll come to see how we can improve things, like preventing falls,” Kidd said. “It’s to help these people stay in their homes, and be able to age in place.”
Lowe’s donated $87,000 to the Denver rebuild project, which will fund repairs on four selected homes, as well as the ACS Community Lift building, a nonprofit that provides a food bank, medical care and developmental services to the surrounding community.
“Our building is 30 years old, and the only thing we’ve done in that time is add new paint,” said Nikyla Wilks, food bank manager for the center. “When they said they’d be coming in and repairing, we were in total shock, we just told them, ‘yes, please.’ “
The center will receive repairs such as new flooring, as well as a classroom addition where people can learn work-force skills, such as creating a resume.
“When you give, you always seem to get back more. This is about helping people who can’t do these projects on their own, and I know I’ll walk away from this saying, ‘I did some good today,’ ” said Roberta Garner, a volunteer with Rebuilding Together.
Homeowner Quency M. said the process has been overwhelming. (Rebuilding Together has asked to exclude the homeowner’s last names to protect their identities.) He has had six strokes that left him unable to complete necessary household tasks.
“Today is the best day of the rest of my life,” Quency said. “I don’t have a lot of strength, really mentally or physically, but they all showed me strength. They showed me that I am somebody. For them to show how important I am, it’s like Christmas.”
Natalie Munio: 303-954-1666, nmunio@denverpost.com or @nataliemunio
