On Aug. 4, a house with Santa Clara’s Housing Choices at the De La Cruz Cooperative (www.housingchoices.org/partner-properties) was bustling with activity. Workers held on to their construction tools and sported jeans and turquoise shirts, unifying them as the volunteers giving the house a makeover.
According to Terry Downing, Development and Outreach Manager at Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley, about 50 to 60 volunteers — employees of Silicon Valley Mechanical (www.svminc.com) — worked through three days on this remodeling project.
Silicon Valley Mechanical, a mechanical construction company, partnered with Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley, (www.rebuildingtogethersv.org), a non-profit organization that, according to its website, “provides critical home repairs to over 600 clients per year” and “assist[s] non-profit organizations with facility maintenance and repairs.”
“We’re working with Silicon Valley Mechanical to work on Housing Choices, a home for individuals with developmental disabilities,” said Jessica Thomas, Program Coordinator at Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley. “Housing Choices is a non-profit organization. They own a home in Santa Clara and allow individuals with developmental disabilities to rent out rooms here to promote housing stability and create quality affordable housing options.”
Thomas shared that the goal of the project was to create a more wheelchair accessible environment and to beautify the home for residents.
“Some of the things we’d be doing [during the remodeling project] is to replace the front deck, add an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible sink in the back bathroom, clean out the backyard and provide planters for future youth,” Thomas said. “We’ll be replacing an interior door. We’ll also replace the front door of the home so that individuals in wheelchairs are able to access the front door.”
According to Thomas, Silicon Valley Mechanical approached Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley about sponsoring a project.
“A lot of times, companies do that because they want to give back to the community and make a difference in the lives of others,” Thomas said. “Silicon Valley Mechanical has worked with us in the past through our Rebuilding Day Program. Twice a year, we do these home repairs anywhere with 30 to 40 homeowners or non-profit organizations. We have about 1,000 volunteers each day.”
Although this particular renovation project wasn’t part of the Rebuilding Day Program, volunteers with Silicon Valley Mechanical still got to make a positive impact in the community.
“This is our second year working with Rebuilding Together,” said Hannah Monteiro, an employee at Silicon Valley Mechanical who served as a volunteer coordinator for this project. “We’ve been working on our philanthropic plan for giving back to the community and we came across Rebuilding Together and felt that it was a good fit for our skill set. We’re a mechanical construction company in the Silicon Valley area. We take pride in the work that we do as well as the employees that we hire. We hope that through this project, that is continuing to be shown to the community.”
“It has been our pleasure to work with Silicon Valley Mechanical and Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley,” said Amanda Brown, a Program Manager at Housing Choices. “This is such a dedicated and passionate team working for a great cause.”