It’s so much fun thinking of what Project Day, a program of Rebuilding Together Fox Valley (RTFV), means to Fox Communities Credit Union. I was going through many years of pictures and basically Rebuilding Together volunteers are the same ones each year with kids added as we go along. It’s normally a day or two where we make a difference in a homeowner’s life and make their home safe and healthy, allowing them to age in place.
The last two project years were collectors. When we finished, their children
told us what a difference we made in their lives, as one of them wouldn’t
bring their grandchildren over because it wasn’t safe for them or their father.
That house took us five full days prior to the actual project day. All of our
FCCU team along with one of the school’s powerlifting students hauled
things out. With the changes made, both homeowners are now able to get
around safely with their wheelchairs.
We work with RTFV because we have an amazing group of volunteers that want to make a safe difference in someone’s life, and the homeowners can live safely in their homes. We all win! It’s one of my top three favorite volunteer events we do, and we do a lot of volunteer events.
Lynn Marie Hopfensperger
Community Development Officer
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FCCU employee responds to National Rebuilding Day……
My world has been so small for so long I forgot what it felt like to be me. I have asthma, and the flu did not go well for me last winter, so without the assurance that we would be taking precautions to minimize the risk I would not have signed up and boy would I have missed out!
I know the goal was to make a difference in the lives of the families but honestly, I think you all helped me just as much. I did not realize how the past 7 ½ months at home had really affected me until Saturday.
Being around some of my Fox family and getting the opportunity to actually DO something to make a difference, made me realize how much of myself I had put away in order to survive being isolated for so many months. It felt so good to laugh, to celebrate a job well done with elbow bumps, to speak to another person’s real-life face, and just sit in the restaurant absorbing the energy of the people around me. I came home covered in mud and paint, exhausted and sore but I wouldn’t trade that day for anything!
I know this year hasn’t been easy for anyone, and everyone has had their own personal struggles, but hang in there. As a wise person once said, “This too shall pass. It might pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.”
Melanie