College club lends Atascadero homebuilders a hand
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing’s College Club lends homebuilders a hand for NeighborWorks Week 2016.
Fifteen current and past students volunteered in Atascadero for Neighbor Works Week 2016
–Fifteen current and past students from Peoples’ Self-Help Housing’s College Club, their parents and community members volunteered Sunday, June 12, to assist 11 families with assignments around their new homes in the 6900 block of Atascadero Avenue, through the Self-Help Home Ownership Program. The students and their families lent a hand as part of Neighbor Works Week, a celebration that brings together affordable housing organizations, volunteers, neighbors, businesses and others across the nation.
Under the supervision of the housing construction superintendents, participating volunteers put a lot of hard work into painting, grading and leveling, cleaning street gutters and drainage systems and sweeping, all while learning about teamwork from the owner-builder families. These 11 families have been working together for the last six months to build their homes and are expected to receive keys to their new houses in December 2016.
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing President and CEO John Fowler said it was a great opportunity to instill the values of community engagement, philanthropy and volunteerism in our youth, the next generation. “What a gift for them to realize they can make a difference at a young age,” he said.
The day culminated in a family-style picnic that gave the self-help builder families a chance to share their experience of hard work and the “sweat equity” it requires to build their homes. It was the ultimate lesson in what it takes to make a dream come true.
Peoples’ Self-Help Housing collaborated with community development partner NeighborWorks America for NeighborWorks Week, which took place June 4 to 12 across the United States. The week is designed to celebrate neighborhood change and awareness. Volunteers around the country worked to rehabilitate and repair homes, paint and landscape properties, conduct neighborhood tours, recognize successful partnerships and host community events.
Past NeighborWorks Week collaboration experiences includes festivities in June of 2015, when a group of the Youth Education Enhancement Program students brought meals to share with seniors living at Peoples’ Self Help Housing rental properties in Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles and Santa Maria.
