Booz Allen and "Rebuilding Together" Maintain an Enduring Partnership
When repairing homes, exceptional "handyman" skills are not always required.
Each year, Booz Allen Hamilton's employees contribute thousands of hours to dozens of charitable organizations. But its biggest nationwide volunteer project is called Rebuilding Together—engaging more than 1,000 Booz Allen employees, their families, and friends, and making an enormous difference in their communities.
"Rebuilding Together helps low-income homeowners—the elderly, disabled, and families with children—live safely and independently," says Consultant Meredith Dedona.
There are an estimated 24 million low-income homeowners in the U.S., many of whom do not have the resources for necessary home repairs and improvements, such as building a wheelchair ramp or fixing a leaky roof. Free services provided by Rebuilding Together, donated supplies, and a cadre of volunteers help these homeowners revitalize their homes when they are unable to do the work themselves.
Booz Allen has sponsored 198 houses since 2000. In 2005, employee volunteers renovated 29 houses in 17 cities, including Atlanta; Alexandria, VA; Arlington, VA; Boston; Chicago; Colorado Springs; Dayton; Granite City, IL; Las Vegas; Lexington Park, MD; Central MD/Baltimore; Parsippany, NJ; Philadelphia; St. Louis; San Diego; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.
The San Diego office recruited the greatest number of volunteers: 78.
Factors that determine whether a home qualifies for assistance include project size and scope. Projects must be small enough that one or two days' work will have a significant impact, and the structure cannot be in such serious disrepair as to be beyond the ability of volunteers to help. Rebuilding Together also assists some non-profits with their facilities.
Creating a Road Map for an Organization's Future
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Rebuilding Together was founded in 1988; Booz Allen has worked with the organization since 1995. Because the last Saturday in April is when most of the rebuilding efforts take place, some still remember when the non-profit was known as "Christmas in April."
But with Booz Allen's assistance, Rebuilding Together is making significant forward strides to not only update and streamline its operations, but to enable the organization to rebuild more homes and serve a greater number of people. Says Senior Associate Scott Bruce, Booz Allen is currently involved in a pro-bono consulting engagement with the group, consisting of strategic analysis and organizational assessment.
"The changes will span five years and make Rebuilding Together more efficient and effective at achieving its mission," says Bruce.
Associate David Sterling details the effort: "We're focusing on five initiatives: Improving its strategic planning capability and process; enhancing organizational structure so that it's easier to operate; developing a more cohesive brand; improving internal and external communications; and strengthening its fundraising ability."
Change opportunities have been identified and prioritized, and the project is now in the implementation phase.
The People You Meet
Rebuilding Together house captains work with 20 to 30 volunteers, who are assigned to a house according to their evaluation of their own skills. This past April in Granite City, Associate and house captain Steve Dalrymple and his team of 25 worked on a home owned by an elderly woman who was hearing impaired.
"The main thing we did was install devices so that she would know if someone was at the door or was calling her," says Dalrymple. The special devices activate lights when the phone or doorbell rings.
They also repaired the woman's bathroom and built a new back porch to replace her old one, which had substantially deteriorated. They painted, planted flowers, and fixed a large hole in the ceiling. Their accomplishments were reported in an article in the local newspaper, STL Today.
"The most important skills the volunteers had were energy and a desire to help," says Dalrymple.
At the same time, Booz Allen volunteers from Annapolis Junction and Linthicum, Maryland were working on two homes in Baltimore County. One home was assigned to house captain and Associate Janice Atwood and her team of 21 volunteers. Outdoors, they fixed a drainage problem, installed handrails for the steps, planted flowers, and poured cement to level walkways. Inside, they caulked a bathtub, repaired walls, replaced heating vent covers, built a staircase to the basement, replaced a sump pump, and installed electrical wiring, outlets, and drywall.
"The best skills for these projects are organization, positive attitude, motivation-and problem-solving, because no matter how much you plan, there's always something that you have to work around," says Atwood. She adds, "The homeowners are genuinely grateful, and your heart goes out to them."
Associate Miamah Pinkard, a member of the Rebuilding Together D.C. affiliate's board of directors, still keeps in touch with Ms. Claytonia Jones. "Two years ago, my team was assigned to Ms. Jones' house in Washington, D.C.," says Pinkard. "I remember one summer evening sitting on her porch, when she said, 'I will never forget any of you. My old age has started with happiness... I will be a happy and grateful old lady because of the Booz Allen volunteers who fixed up my house.'"
"Much good can be accomplished in a short time when volunteers commit to getting the job done," says Pinkard. "Rebuilding Together is an excellent venue to meet new and old friends, but the most important part is seeing the look on peoples' faces when you help restore hope."
story posted June 27, 2005
