For most teenagers, the part they love most about weekends is relaxing. However, for some teens, adults and numerous groups, this weekend went a little different.
On Saturday April 26, Portage had its annual Rebuilding Together event. During this event, community members team up to help repair and update houses around the area that need some improvements. This year, the event helped repair six houses in Portage and South Haven. Only so many houses could have work done on them this year due to financial restrictions. Work was also done at Gabriel’s Horn Homeless Shelter.
In October, an application process starts. Home owners in need submit applications. Then, the board reviews the applications and chooses the houses they are going to repair. How many houses are repaired depends on how much money is available.
This year, several groups volunteered including Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, ROTC members, church groups, firemen, representatives from the Portage Township Trustee’s Office and the Portage Kiwanis group. On top of that, there were also contractors from the community involved.
Volunteers worked on various tasks from gardening and raking leaves to painting the walls inside the houses.
At 7:00 a.m., volunteers met up at Woodland Park for breakfast and registration, then boarded buses and headed off to different locations. Volunteers were each assigned to a certain house, and no one could transfer houses throughout the day. Lunch was provided by the Our Lady of Sorrows Church.
To date, the Rebuilding Together group has helped improve 191 houses through the program’s 15 years. According to board member Robin Wilkening, the experience itself was worth the work.
“It’s very humbling, and it makes you feel needed and appreciated,” said Wilkening. “All the home owners are always very appreciative.”
According to Wilkening, she hopes that in the future, there will be more participants to help things get even better.
Click here to see more photos from Rebuilding Together Portage!