COMING SOON!

Currently Rebuilding Together Nashville is working on their first book, hopefully to become one of many! The book will contain testimonials, comments, pictures of rebuilds and messages from the organization and its sponsors that have been involved in any of Rebuilding Together Nashville’s 143 home renovations! The book is expected to be out this fall! Keep up with us so you can get your copy! All proceeds go back into funding rebuilding homes in the community!

T-Shirts can also be bought from Rebuilding Together Nashville, we’re working on getting that available on the site. If you’d like one before we get them online just email/call us if you’d like to purchase one!

Vanrine Peets, the homeowner’s son, said his mom’s house looks much better than it did before.

“I think it’s really good,” Peets said. “I’m really impressed with the deck and also the attic.”

Peets appreciated what the volunteers did for his family.

“I think it means a lot,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard for her to find help. So I think she’s very thankful and grateful for this.”

While volunteers made significant improvements to the home, house captain, Herb Chafin, said crews always wish they could do more than what one day allows.

“You always want to get more done,” Chafin said. “You come out and run as fast as you can and get as much done as you can, but you never get done everything you want to.”

Chafin, who has worked with Rebuilding Together for a decade, continues to be active with the organization because he believes in its mission to help those who don’t have the resources to help themselves.

For photos, video and other updates on today’s build, check out our Twitter and Facebook pages.

To see the finishing touches on today’s project, watch the video below.

Jason Biddle, a member of Rebuilding Together’s Board of Directors, said everyone is pleased with the quick pace and amount of work that has taken place, especially for only a half-day’s work.

Biddle and several other volunteers have been working hard to repair Mrs. Peets’ back porch.

“We’ve been removing an old deck,” Biddle said. “It wasn’t set in correctly, so it didn’t have support underneath it.  We’ve been taking out old wood and replacing it with new, treated wood.”

After working for Rebuilding Together for almost six months, Biddle has enjoyed participating in the builds because of the organization and volunteers’ shared sense of community.

“In these type of settings and environments, a lot of times these people are pulling themselves up by their bootstraps,” Biddle said. “As a community, our purpose and goal is to come together—individuals coming together to accomplish a common goal for someone who has no other resource. It’s fun to see a group of people come together for someone they don’t even know.”

The volunteers from Rebuilding Together have teamed up with Sears employees as part of the Heroes at Home program.

Richard Catapano, Sears’ district manager for retail and sales throughout the Nashville area, started working with Rebuilding Together last year in an effort to help out after the May floods.

Catapano said the company enjoys being involved in the community that supports it.

“It’s good to give back to the community,” Catapano said. “As a retailer, we depend on the health of the community for our health. We have to recognize that a good community pays back, and we want to be a part of that.”

Sears and Catapano respect the mission of Rebuilding Together, as well as their partnership, and look forward to continuing to work together.

“It’s a great organization,” Catapano said. “I love the fact that it gets out and helps a large group of families to get their feet back on the ground. What we’re doing today would take months if not years to do. [Rebuilding Together] is kind of the glue that holds everyone together.”

The team has made progress on the back deck, window repairs, cleaning and organizing the attic, as well as several bathroom repairs.

For photos, video and other updates on today’s build, check out our Twitter and Facebook pages.

To see an update on the progress, watch the video below.

Mrs. Peet's son and Sears volunteer

Rebuilding Together Nashville has partnered with Sears Holdings to help Mrs. Pauline Peets, a widowed veteran, through today’s build day for the Heroes at Home program.

Seventeen volunteers, along with five project coordinators and the Rebuilding Together staff, are teaming up to create a more energy efficient household for Mrs. Peets and her children.

After two hours of work, the crew has already cleaned and organized Mrs. Peets’ attic, began work on her back porch—replacing rotting support beams with new, safer materials—and started several repairs in one of the bathrooms.

The Heroes at Home grant provides $10,000 to assist military veterans facing hardships.  Throughout the day, updates on the progress of Mrs. Peets’ home will be posted.

For photos, video and other updates on today’s build, check out our Twitter and Facebook pages.

To hear from Mrs. Peets’ prior to today’s build, see our previous coverage.

To see this morning’s progress, take a look at the video below.

Sixteen years ago, Mrs. Peets moved into her home with her husband and son. Now, after nearly 20 years in Nashville, she said the neighborhood has changed a lot.

“When we moved in, there were a lot of elderly people who had been living here a long time,” Mrs. Peets said. “Periodically, they would tell me the history of the area—what it was like. Now the younger people are moving in … The dynamics have changed. I still love my home. It’s not my house; it’s my home.”

Mrs. Peets, who now is a single parent with two more children, said she struggles to maintain her home. Despite her attempts to do repairs on her home, certain problems in the house are beyond her ability. She also has trouble finding trustworthy people to do the work for her.

“I try my best to take care of different things that have gone wrong,” she said. “Some of the things I try to do myself, and some of the things I call Lowe’s … and they talk me through. But to get someone to do it for you, in most cases, dishonesty is quite apparent.”

Mrs. Peets, originally from Jamaica, served in the Navy before coming to Tennessee. Because of her military service, Rebuilding Together was able to work with her through the Heroes at Home grant. Heroes at Home is a program created by Sears Holdings in partnership with Rebuilding Together in response to an urgent need to assist military families facing hardship. To date, the grant has provided more than $12 million for Rebuilding Together affiliates to meet needs.

Mrs. Peets said she has enjoyed her interaction with the Rebuilding Together staff and volunteers and is looking forward to meeting more of them on Saturday.

“What they’re doing is a good program to help a lot of homeowners who are not able to help themselves, especially the elderly and widows like myself,” Mrs. Peets said. “And being a veteran, to link up with Sears to be able to get this accomplished is a good thing and is needed. I’m glad that someone took the time to think of such a program and have implemented it, so we could benefit from it.”

To hear more of Mrs. Peets’ story, check out this video.

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