Good News - February 2021

COVER STORY 18 FEBRUARY 2021 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition W hen hundreds of volunteers descend on a community in a day, they can transform a decaying city block into a friendly neighborhood infused with a renewed pride in ownership and appreciation for the kindness of others. This is the impact of Rebuilding Together Broward County and the partnerships they have cultivated to eliminate unsafe and deplorable liv- ing conditions for low-income homeowners who are elderly, veterans or have disabilities. It extends beyond repairing each individual home and helps stabilize much of the vulnerable neighborhoods in which they live. “When you lift a few houses, you lift an entire community,” noted Traci Miller, Chairman of Rebuilding Together Broward County and SVPBusiness Development for Miller Construction Company. “We lean on the broken window theory,” explained Robin Martin, Execu- tive Director of Rebuilding Together Broward County. “The concept is that if you make an environment better, people treat it better. We’ve seen a number of times when we’ve gone back into a community where we’ve done work, the neighbors have improved their homes because they saw homes around them being improved.” Focusing on the aging is a big part of the equation as Florida leads the nation for the number of seniors, and Broward’s population aged 80-84 is ex- pected to increase by 73 percent in the next 12 years according to The Silver Tsunami Report, compiled by the Community Foundation of Broward and its partners. They’re asking, how do we leave seniors in their homes longer? What do seniors do when the home they’ve lived in all their lives begins to crumble around them, and on a fixed income, they don’t have the means or where-with-all to repair them? Repairing Homes Safety is the number one priority when repairing homes. Examples of the work they do to ensure safe, healthy environments includes installing handrails, ramps and grab bars; fixing leaks and sealing gaps, cracks and holes; replacing carpet with durable flooring; installing smoke and C02 de- tectors; repairing kitchen and bathroom issues; painting and landscaping to reduce neighborhood blight. Rebuilding Lives When a code enforcement officer asked Rebuilding Together to help a home- owner in need, they were taken aback by the sight of Debra’s home. Awidow and retired Kindergarten teacher, she had been living in her home for 40 years. Roof leaks and water damage caused significant problems even before Hurricane Irma ripped almost half of her roof off. She lived in this for eight months with no family, insurance or means to fix it and was deathly afraid of losing her home and pets. Thanks To JWR Construction Services and a team of partners brought together by Rebuilding Together Broward, Debra's home is now fully restored. Currently, Rebuilding Together is raising funds to restore the home of a Cindy Bizier, who lost her grandson in a tragic house fire. Cindy’s daughter, Autumn, struggled with drug addiction and Cindy had called the Department of Children & Families multiple times to no avail worried about her grandson’s safety. Her fears were realized in March 2009 when fire erupted while Autumn slept and three-year-old Aiden was trapped in the garage. A heart-shaped scorch mark re- mains on the wall above where he was found curled up with his dog. “When I visited her home for the first time – to say it took me a couple of days to recover was an understatement,” said Miller, with tears welling up in her eyes. “She tried so hard to protect that child. That’s what breaks my heart. I feel like we’ve already failed this lady once and there’s just no understanding that. So I want to help her put her life back together.” Miller construction is taking the lead on the project, committing 100 percent of their time as a gift to Bizier. They’ve raised close to $40,000, but need an ad- ditional $60,000 to begin. Please consider contributing directly to this project at http://bit.ly/CindysHome or committing in-kind work. Revitalizing Communities In addition, Rebuilding Together has identified four communities of promise for revitalization where they are partnering with local governments as well as non- profits to bring services: the City of Dania Beach, Pompano Beach, Unincorpo- rated Broward County and most recently the City of Fort Lauderdale has invested in their work. “We’ve already done 20 homes, and this year we’re looking to do 60 homes in the historic Dorsey Riverbend community just north of Sistrunk Boulevard and east of I-95,” said Martin, adding, “We are able to make their pro- grams more efficient by leveraging their dollars with community support.” Having completed physical rehab on over 90 homes in Dania Beach already, Michael Chen, Executive Director of the Dania Beach CRA, said the CRAapplied RebuildingTogetherBrowardRestoresThe Heart of CommunitiesThroughRevitalization Shelly Pond Good News Editor Pictured from left to right: Moises Castro , a 16-year Naval Veteran; Nadene Rose , Home Depot Store Manager; and Robin Martin , Rebuilding Together Broward Executive Direc- tor. Moises and his wife, Theresa Castro (not pictured), who also served 21 years in the Navy, struggled with home repairs after Moises’ Traumatic Brain Surgery (TBI) in 2010 dramatically changed the dynamics of their home both, physically and financially.