Rebuilding Together Miami, partners ‘make a difference’

By Lee Stephens….

Bob Miller, Rebuilding Together Miami president, is pictured with Sam Thomas of Contractor’s Resource Center.

Mattie Brinson, age 84, has lived in her Naranja home for 37 years where she raised six children. Mr. Brinson passed away in 2003 so Mattie lives alone in her home that is badly in need of repairs.

Mrs. Brinsion is one of 14 homeowners who benefited from Rebuilding Together Miami’s annual Rebuild Day on May 7.

Turner Construction volunteers spent the past several weekends working on Brinson’s home fixing plumbing leaks which caused mold, replacing the walls damaged by mold, replacing her toilet with an ADA toilet, replacing the bathroom flooring, replacing a partially collapsed ceiling, painting the house and tenting for termites.

The FIU National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has been part of the weekend volunteer team to get the house ready for the final touches on event day. On May 7 the house was landscaped fully and the 40 tires stacked in the backyard discarded.

Mrs. Brinson was overwhelmed with the change to her home.

“I feel so blessed to have these nice folks take their time to help me,” she said.

Mryra Eres, sales rep for Takeda Pharmeucticals who led a team of nine Takeda volunteers, commented on the day’s experience.

“I am happy to help people who need help. The teamwork is great and I just learned how to paint,” she said.

In the past two years, Rebuilding Together Miami has rehabilitated 28 homes in the Naranja community of South Miami-Dade County. Preserving homeownership and revitalizing communities by providing fee rehabilitation services is the mission of Rebuilding Together Miami.

By leveraging resources and organizing volunteers, Rebuilding Together Miami is able to provide repairs for homeowners to live safely. The recipients of the services live on fixed incomes that force them to choose between medicine and food or repairing a leaking roof.

Funding the home repairs are Raymond James, Chrysalis Center, SunTrust Investment Services, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Wells Fargo Housing Foundation, Pepsi Beverages, Advanced Roofing, Beauchamp Construction, Bejar Construction, Biscayne Roofing, Coastal Construction, Everglades Steel, First Florida Building Corp, First St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Hollub Homes, Kingdom Cuts, KVC, MCM, Moss, Overholt Construction, Peckar Abramson, Riteway Plumbing, Shorty’s BBQ, South Florida Association of General Contractors, Turner Construction, Voss Painting and WM Bagsters.

“We are pleased to help these deserving homeowners in the Naranja community. Rebuilding Together Miami is committed to preserving affordable housing and making a difference in the community,” said Donna Fales, executive director of Rebuilding Together Miami.

For more information, visit online at www.rebuildingtogethermiami.org.


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