Rebuilding Together is a nonprofit striving to improve the living arrangements of people who often have a harder time making home repairs themselves.
Over the last 40 years, they have exercised the “neighbor helping neighbor” philosophy by providing those in need with free home repairs from community volunteers. Rebuilding Together supports veterans, people with disabilities and low-income homeowners who need support.
Rather than multiple groups working weeks or months on a home for a new homeowner, these projects are done for existing homeowners and usually completed within a day. There may be ten or more different tasks that need to be completed in one day, which allows volunteers to be hands-on and work together to accomplish as much as they can.
Rebuilding Together is a tremendous event that F&G is fortunate enough to contribute to. Some of our F&G family shared their experiences with Rebuilding Together and what it has meant to them to be a part of this organization.
Why F&G volunteers with Rebuilding Together
Below are the personal accounts from Chris Bacon, Assistant Vice President, Tax; Colin Dietrich, Senior Internal Auditor, Risk; and Tony Litterer, Assistant Vice President, Actuarial.
They have led F&G’s involvement with Rebuilding Together and have many years of experience with the event.
Chris has volunteered with Rebuilding Together since 1995 and has helped significantly grow awareness for the organization. Colin has been volunteering with Rebuilding Together since 2015 and has been a house captain since 2016. Tony has volunteered with Rebuilding Together since he started with F&G in 2016 and is a house chair on projects in the Des Moines community.
Chris Bacon’s personal account:
Before volunteering, I joined the Navy in 1986 as an electrician in the construction battalion. After my time in the Navy and after I got my degree, I began working in accounting, I got an email from a coworker looking for volunteers for Rebuilding Together in Baltimore.
After volunteering and being able to help many people, it clicked for me that this was my purpose in life and why I had received my construction training.
This organization’s involvement has grown tremendously because of our employee volunteers who are passionate about helping others who are less fortunate.
Rebuilding Together is a unique opportunity. Not only do you help the community, but you get to see firsthand the impact that you have on improving others lives.
Colin Dietrich’s personal account:
I think it’s super important to get involved and give back to your community. Growing up, I enjoyed working on projects with my dad and acquired many of the skills I now get to use with Rebuilding Together.
One thing I love about Rebuilding Together is how empowered volunteers are in a very short time frame drastically help people who are in need through home improvement. The look of sincere gratitude on homeowners’ faces when we finish for the day is very powerful.
Tears of joy and hugs from homeowners are common, and that reminds me that we’re making a real difference.
Tony Litterer’s personal account:
Awareness of how other people are living is important. In some ways, it is depressing to realize the living conditions of so many people, and at the same time it’s also great to see that our company and employees are able to offer assistance.
Being able to provide comfort and safety for those in need is special. Homeowners have shed tears of joy because they couldn’t believe all that was completed on their homes in just one day.
It’s powerful to receive that type of response, and shows how meaningful the work is.
How F&G volunteers for Rebuilding Together
In addition to the good Rebuilding Together does for the community, F&G offers an opportunity for individuals from different departments to come together.
Often times, groups are mixed with volunteers who have a lot of building experience and volunteers that have little to none. Volunteering together can strengthen the bond between coworkers by teaching and learning new repair skills from each other.
Rebuilding Together has been a perfect opportunity for our F&G volunteers to give back to our community in a meaningful way.
This event is proof that individuals can accomplish something great as they share a hands-on spirit driving them to make a meaningful difference in someone else’s life.
We encourage others to get involved as well. To learn about Rebuilding Together and how to get involved, visit rebuildingtogether.org.
