A Community Comes Together to Help a Neighbor Age Safely at Home
For more than 30 years, Mr. J’s Arlington house has been the center of family life. It is where he and his late wife raised five daughters, welcomed grandchildren, and built a lifetime of memories. As he got older, Parkinson’s disease made mobility more challenging and maintaining the home and safely navigating its stairs and bathrooms became increasingly difficult.
After learning about Rebuilding Together Arlington/Fairfax/Falls Church (RT-AFF), Mr. J’s family reached out for help. What followed was a multi-phase project coordinated by RT-AFF that brought together our longtime partner St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Mr. J’s family, contractors, and skilled RT-AFF volunteers to make the home safer, healthier, and more accessible.
The first phase took place on National Rebuilding Day when volunteers from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, including contractors who helped lead the more complex repairs and modifications. St. Peter’s has partnered with RT-AFF for 35 years, and church member Bruce Jolly was one of RTAFF’s founding board members. Their longstanding commitment to serving neighbors in need continues to strengthen our work together.
As Bruce reflected afterward, “What made this year’s RT-AFF/St. Peter’s experience special? Every year is special—but this time, the homeowner’s five daughters, along with spouses, grandchildren, and even one great-grandchild (far too young to help), all showed up and pitched in.”
St. Peter’s volunteers contributed more than 130 hours of service. Team leaders and skilled volunteers spent many hours before National Rebuilding Day planning the project, designing the ramp, ordering materials, and coordinating the day to make the greatest possible impact.
St. Peter’s volunteers and Mr. J’s family members worked together to clear years of accumulated items from all three floors of the home. The St. Peter’s team also repaired kitchen cabinets, installed appliances, replaced a basement sliding door, repaired railings, improved drainage, completed landscaping, installed a new storm door, and built a wheelchair ramp to reduce fall risks. Volunteers also demolished a deteriorated deck and prepared the site for a future replacement.
One family member shared that they had tried for years to address many of the home’s challenges but simply couldn’t keep up with the growing list of repairs. Seeing a team of volunteers accomplish so much in a single day was both emotional and inspiring.
The project also created opportunities for learning and connection. Experienced St. Peter’s volunteers mentored newer participants throughout the day, sharing skills while working side by side—a reminder that volunteering builds confidence, skills, and community.
The work did not end on National Rebuilding Day. Through funding from Arlington County, a contractor completed a full bathroom renovation, replacing an outdated tub with a walk-in shower designed to meet Mr. J’s changing needs.
Finally, a team of skilled RT-AFF volunteers installed a stairlift along with grab bars to help Mr. J safely access the stairlift, along with grab bars in the bathroom and powder room. These important accessibility modifications will help Mr. J move through his home with greater confidence and independence.
Today, the home is safer, more functional, and better equipped to support Mr. J as he ages in place. More importantly, the project demonstrates what is possible when a dedicated partner, volunteers, donors and contractors come together around a shared purpose. Through careful planning and multiple phases of work, RTAFF was able to help Mr. J remain safely and comfortably in the home where he raised his family while giving his loved ones greater piece of mind.
Helping neighbors live safely in their own homes—the homes they love and the neighborhoods that matter to them—is at the heart of our mission. This project is a powerful example of what can happen when a community comes together to care for one another.
Thank you to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church for 35 years of partnership and for your continued commitment to helping neighbors in need.
Please visit our Flickr to see more photos of St. Peter’s team in action on National Rebuilding Day.
Methodist Church collaborated with Hartwood Foundation to create outdoor spaces for their residents at three Fairfax homes. Hartwood operates residential service programs for people with developmental disabilities and they understand the ability to enjoy life is the ability that matters most. Our partners were all smiles too, enjoying National Rebuilding Day in spite of the rain and mud.
National Rebuilding Day included a variety of rewarding projects undertaken by our faith and corporate partners, including the work King of Kings Lutheran Church accomplished for Mr. W. in Centreville Mr. W. is a Marine Corps veteran who was stationed at Paris Island and Quantico before becoming a business owner in our area. He took care of his wife for many years until she passed away in 2020. Mr. W. took pride in his home but in recent years due to health issues and lack of financial resources he couldn’t keep up with the mounting maintenance and repairs needed to continue to live safely in his home of 56 years.
Bredow recruited volunteers from Fairfax United Methodist and Christ Presbyterian Churches to partner with his church. In total, 35 volunteers with a range of skills worked over two weekends to make Mr. W’s home safer. The first weekend a smaller group of volunteers cleared out extensive debris from a tree-damaged back porch.
With this much work to do, the team ended up spending 10 hours at the house on National Rebuilding Day (NRD), plus additional hours preparing materials and removing debris the week prior to NRD. You can see how our generous volunteers participated in the work with enthusiasm and smiles:
ACCA put together two teams this year as they have done for many National Rebuilding Days during our 35+ years as partners in safe and healthy housing. ACCA Team #2 included volunteers from Ravensworth Baptist, John Calvin Presbyterian and Providence Presbyterian Churches ranging in age from college students to retirees. The team helped Mr. and Mrs. D, a couple in their 80’s who have lived in their Alexandria home for 41 years. Mrs. D spends much of her time caring for Mr. D who is blind, hearing impaired and uses a walker. His safety is her biggest concern, and due to their age and disabilities they also had a lot of deferred maintenance projects to be tackled.
Washington Building Congress (WBC) is a commercial trade association consisting of businesses from the real estate, design, and construction community – a perfect partner for National Rebuilding Day. House Captain Juliane Medd brought together a skilled team of industry professionals to help Mr. and Mrs. H with repairs and modifications at their Alexandria home. Mrs. H is a wheelchair user and was not able to leave their home without assistance, so the installation of a ramp was a top priority for the team. Team member firms provided professional electricians, plumbers, carpenters, landscapers, and other volunteers to complete repairs and modifications including the installation of the ramp, a stove top vent, double stair railings, LED light fixtures, GFCI outlets, a comfort height toilet and bathroom grab bars. The WBC team helped the family by clearing out and disposing of old furniture, building shelves, and organizing their pantry and storage. The project had a large outdoor component, so the Landscape Team was busy clearing out the overgrowth and brought in a bobcat to haul out sections of a tree that had fallen years before. “Mr. H has a lot of pride in his property, and was especially proud of his blueberry bushes,” said House Captain Juliane Medd. “We cleared a path so he could get to the blueberries easily. Mr. H was overwhelmed with gratitude for all the work but especially the small touches that showed we were listening, and we cared about him and his wife.”
