Rebuilding Together Oakland County (RTOC) will transform 45 homes in 12 Oakland County municipalities on April 27. More than 1,000 volunteers will work from dawn until dusk to ensure that families in communities throughout Oakland County Michigan live in a safe and healthy environment.
Deborah Houghton from Highland owns one of the homes receiving a facelift from RTOC. Her husband, Bob Houghton, was a Vietnam veteran with the US Army and was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. His medical bills exhausted the family’s savings. Bob knew he needed to take care of some maintenance work around the house so he cashed in his annuity to pay for a new roof and siding so his family wouldn’t have those expenses after he was gone.
Bob passed away in 2011 leaving behind his wife and daughter. Since then, many other household failures have occurred. The home needs major plumbing and septic repairs, the bathroom has extensive mold and the floor needs replacing, the kitchen cabinets are damaged and need to be replaced, the roof needs some patching, and many other electrical and miscellaneous repairs. RTOC plans to help fix these problems for Deborah and her daughter. MASCO is donating kitchen cabinets for the project, Faith Lutheran Church and Sears Hero’s at Home are providing funding for the project and the church is providing volunteers to do the work.
“With help from our sponsors and volunteers, we’ll be doing everything from minor indoor repairs to replacing windows and building wheelchair ramps,” said Jerry McKay, president of RTOC. “We are doing the best we can to help homeowners in need to repair their homes to a livable, manageable state.”
Each year, Rebuilding Together Oakland County, a local branch of the national non-profit organization, works with its huge coalition of volunteers to repair the homes and yards of low-income homeowners who are elderly, disabled, or military veterans and unable to do the work themselves.
Communities benefitting from the 2013 Rebuild Day include Commerce, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Highland Twp., Holly, Milford, Pontiac, Royal Oak Twp., Southfield, Walled Lake, West Bloomfield and White Lake.
RTOC has been providing free home repair services to community residents for the past 20 years. With a 1:4 dollar return on investment, RTOC has contributed an estimated $6 million of market value back to the community.
Major 2013 Rebuild Day sponsors include Eaton, Charter One Bank, Sears and ITC Holdings Corp. Additional sponsors include Booz Allen Hamilton, Continental, DTE Energy, Honeywell, and Lowes.
For more information and to learn how to get involved, visit www.rebuildingtogether-oaklandcounty.org.
