Top 10 Memories – 10th Anniversary Edition

Rebuild Upstate Top 10 Memories

Did you know Rebuild Upstate is celebrating its 10th anniversary? Over the next few weeks, we will be highlighting some of our favorite memories from the past 10 years. We’ll be adding a few more each month, so stay tuned!

1. Founding Story – It Starts With One.

It’s hard to put our favorite memory from the past 10 years into words. So, our friends at MTN Creative helped us tell our story with a video.

2. Growing Our Team

A milestone for any nonprofit is moving from volunteers to a team of staff. In addition to this team, Rebuild has a wonderful group of volunteers, board members, and advisory council members who help us meet our goals each year. Recently, our staff and board completed a strategic plan so Rebuild Upstate will continue to grow and serve more homeowners in the community.

3-5. Core Volunteers

We have three special groups to highlight as memories #3, #4, and #5! We could not accomplish much without our core volunteers. At Rebuild Upstate, we have three volunteer groups that have evolved and grown with us. In fact, these particular groups contribute to success in both operations and outcomes.

3. Site Leaders – Site leader join lead groups through their projects. These skilled volunteers share their experience and knowledge in construction with our volunteer groups.

4. Handy Men and Women – This is a group of highly dedicated individuals that go out together in small groups and help clients with smaller and more technical projects. These skilled volunteers often help us make final touches on projects and are the last volunteers a homeowner will have contact with.

5. FIT Team – Our First Impression Team members help us gather information from our clients. FIT members are the first contact with clients and are crucial to our ability to help them. They collect valuable information such as project details, personal information, and help us discern the level of urgency for each project.

6. Celebrating Partnership

Without our community partners, we would never have the impact we do. One particular partnership worth celebrating is the partnership with United Way of Greenville County and AmeriCorps members. Over the past few years, our AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA members have contributed to the exponential growth of Rebuild Upstate. They’ve recruited volunteers, collected crucial information from homeowners, and completed projects that benefit the organization in the long-term. Rebuild Upstate is proud to be a partner with United Way of Greenville County in their Collective Impact Project. The partnership is working to understand the collective impact agencies within the partnership have in the Greenville community.

Current AmeriCorps VISTA, Matthew Yochum, wrote, “Together, we are mapping successful paths for families who are looking to find their way to financial stability. In return for reporting data, UWGC is reshaping our data to show how Rebuild is helping families in the larger picture of financial stability and affordable housing. By collaborating we are getting the chance to better understand the impact of our organization which will help us grow, adapt, and secure future funding.”

7. The ReWiGo Blog

Capturing homeowner stories has always been a focus of Rebuild Upstate. By capturing these stories, we try to communicate what is often a transformative experience for a homeowner. Numerous volunteers have witnessed the impact something as simple as building a wheelchair ramp can have on the quality of life for a homeowner. Check out the ReWiGo Blog for stories that capture the impact of Rebuild Upstate. Rebuild Upstate, formerly known as ReWiGo or TIgersGo, rebranded in 2015.

Check out the ReWiGo Blog here!

8. Growing with the ReFrame Association

Since its inception in 2011, Rebuild Upstate has been engaged with the ReFrame Association. The ReFrame Association was created to provide resources and community to nonprofits providing home repair and home improvements. When the association was formally founded in 2013, Rebuild Upstate was one of nine charter members.

Rebuild Upstate is still involved in ReFrame Association and attends the ReFrame Conference annually. In fact, Rebuild Upstate Founder and CEO, Chris Manley, will be giving the ReFrame Conference’s keynote speech next month. Not only has ReFrame been part of our success and history, but it will be part of our growth moving forward by providing professional development to staff, best practices, and networking with like-minded organizations.

Learn more about ReFrame at reframeassociation.org.

9. Working with Ms. King

Ms. King’s story is one of many we hear at Rebuild Upstate. Fortunately, with the help of volunteers community partners, we were able to provide Ms. King with critical repairs for her home. Outcomes like Ms. King empower us to keep moving forward, keep working, and making sure we do everything we can to provide repairs to the 1,000+ other individuals currently on our waiting list.

10. Learning New Projects

One of the greatest joys of working with a homeowner is learning how we can provide a solution to his or her unique needs. The repairs we are able to provide have evolved because we’ve listened to the needs of each homeowner. Over the years, we’ve learned to facilitate additional repairs such as roofing, flooring, plumbing, grab bars, window replacement, and more! Remember when we only did post-flood demolition? What about when we only offered building wheelchair ramps? Embracing new repair opportunities is why we were able to serve a record-breaking 143 homeowners last year!