Volunteers rebuild lives, ‘touching the mission’
Bobbie Williams, 82, has lived in a little green house in Sunnyside since 1969. Three children, two grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren coming in and out over the years left the expected wear-and-tear
Hundreds of volunteers worked Saturday on houses like Williams’ as part of a city-wide effort, called Rebuilding Together Houston’s Super Impact 17, to improve quality of life for Houston’s elderly.
“I really needed it,” Williams said. “I appreciate it to the very highest.”
At Williams’ house, a group of volunteers painted siding and replaced rotten wood, but across Houston the organization had more than 100 crews with jobs like replacing windows and doors and exterminating termites.
Williams applied online for the project in November, and Rebuilding Together Houston quickly selected her house for renovation, although the organization’s executive director, Jim Soller, said that some people can remain on the wait list for up to three years.
Rebuilding Together Houston began in 1982 under a different name, Private Sector Initiative, to try to improve the city without public funding. Eventually, it evolved into a program to assist veterans and seniors in maintaining their homes.
In 2004, just before the Patriots defeated the Panthers at the last Super Bowl in Houston, the founders met then–NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who told them about his vision for a Rebuilding Together organization in every city with an NFL team. Shortly after, they changed the name, joining the ranks of the community-oriented brand.
This year, in honor of that tie to football, Rebuilding Together Houston created the Super Impact 17 campaign, in which crews will work on 500 homes in the 17 months leading up to the Super Bowl. Soller doesn’t want to see that end after February’s game: Next year, he aims to increase to 700 projects around the city.
“This (renovation campaign) enables you to get right to ground zero, helping people,” Soller said. “You really feel like you’re touching the mission.”
Kenny Matula, the vice president of retail and mass markets for one of the campaign sponsors, Gexa Energy, felt that same sentiment as he prepared to work on Williams’ house, and it made him wonder what more he might contribute. After he heard that her electricity prices hadn’t changed for years — and as a result, weren’t competitive with today’s rates, he said — Matula knew what to do.
On Saturday morning, as a group of volunteers buzzed around the sides of the house pulling out wood and painting the siding gun-metal gray, Matula presented to Williams a certificate for a free year of electricity and lower rates moving forward through his company.
“This is very special to us. We wouldn’t be here today without the consumer,” Matula said. “We want to give back to a community that’s done so much for Gexa Energy.”
When Soller arrived at the home in the morning, he didn’t plan to participate in the crew’s work. He just stopped by to say hello to Williams and thank volunteers.
Quickly, though, he decided he couldn’t leave. The executive director, who came out of retirement to support the Rebuilding Together Houston cause, couldn’t resist the urge to lend a hand when there was work left to be done.
“I like the camaraderie, the teamwork, the working with my hands — seeing the tangible results,” Soller said.
“You come in, the house looks bad. When you leave, it looks great.”