As noted above, a city-wide breakfast for the volunteers will be held at Vineville UMC. We can meet there, eat and fellowship before we head to the project site.

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For 20 years, Rebuilding Macon – with the help and support of the Macon and Bibb County community has been making the grade.  Thousands of volunteers come out on Macon Rebuilding Day to help repair the homes of elderly and disabled low-income homeowners.  Individuals, churches, groups, organizations, businesses and corporations come together on one day to repair approximately 50 homes.  Volunteers paint, weatherize, build wheelchair ramps, repair plumbing and roofs, and perform carpentry repairs in a massive effort to rehabilitate homes and revitalize neighborhoods in this special event.

Make a pledge to ace the test and partner with Rebuilding Macon to revitalize neighborhoods, assuring that low-income homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, may continue to live in warmth, safety and independence.  Sign up your team today for the 2012 Macon Rebuilding Day scheduled for April 28, 2012.  Contact Debra Rollins, (478)744-9808 or via email.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.”  Let’s pass this test, and make a difference in Middle Georgia.

Entering our twentieth year of service to Macon and Middle Georgia, Rebuilding Macon is poised to meet another critical need of our community.  There have been many discussions regarding the abandoned and deserted homes that are major eyesores in Macon.  Six homes in the Second Street and Third Street neighborhoods have been deeded to Rebuilding Macon by Historic Hills and Heights.  In partnership with volunteers from Dismas Charities, these homes will be remodeled and sold for low-income housing.  This program will revitalize these neighborhoods, as well as return homes to the community and teach job skills to our Dismas Charities volunteers.

Our primary focus will always remain repairing the homes of low-income elderly or disabled homeowners. Often times the decision to save a home is based on our ability to repair the roof.  Care and maintenance for an aging home becomes increasingly expensive over time.  Routine repairs and preventive maintenance can lengthen the lifespan and improve the efficiency of the home.  Elderly and disabled low-income homeowners are facing both escalating health and housing expenses simultaneously, and the decision to apply their fixed income dollars to medical help and medications is simple, but saddening.  As a result, their homes deteriorate at an accelerated rate due to the lack of preventive maintenance and light repair.

Homeowners call Rebuilding Macon for many reasons, but they make one thing clear.  They need help NOW. Rebuilding Macon is there for these homeowners – for as long as our funding last.
Over $9 million of market value improvements have been made by our volunteer teams.

We are very proud of the work we do at Rebuilding Macon.  As long as we are needed, we will continue to rebuild Macon, one house at a time!

WOODY MARSHALL/THE TELEGRAPH George

George Hamlin grew up watching his father drive a Trailways bus.

His dad traveled the highways for more than 40 years, passing through small towns and making stops in big cities. He was recognized by the company for his safe driving record, with more than 2 million miles without an accident. On a summer night four months ago, George must have thought one of his father’s old 12-ton buses had wrecked on top of his roof. “It sounded like an airplane crash,” he said. George doesn’t need many visual reminders of the night of July 3. He can simply point to the large, blue tarp where his roof used to be.

It covers the back side of the house his parents built in Bloomfield in the early 1950s.

Shameika Boatman and her mother Julia both have had it with the row of run-down houses, 3-foot tall weeds, and piles of garbage.

“Once upon a time we had everybody staying in every house, I had friends, we had the store over there…it was just an all around all right neighborhood,” says Shameika.

Sadly, that’s not the story anymore.

Original article: http://www.41nbc.com/news/local-news/8726-macon-residents-say-second-street-needs-clean-up

Thanks to the Middle Georgia Woodworkers Association, Clenda and her grandchildren will be able to enjoy years of “playing school” with their friends and family in this replica of a one room school house – complete with a ringing school bell, Cyprus-siding, chalk and dry-erase boards, coat rack, 2 student desks and 1 teacher’s desk.  Unlike the school houses of old, this school house will have electric lighting and air-conditioning.

Congratulations to Clenda Watkins for being the 2011 Playhouse Raffle winner!!

Rebuilding Macon is looking forward to the 2012 Playhouse Raffle.  The Middle Georgia Woodworkers Association is set to build a pirate ship.  Shiver me timbers matey!  Get ready to buy your tickets!  You could be the next winner for the Rebuilding Macon Playhouse Raffle.  All funds are used to help repair the homes of low-income elderly and disabled homeowners – free of charge.

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A flash mob from Theatre Macon got the festivities started by chanting “We can build a beautiful city!” A band rocked Butler Toyota in North Macon as the folks who attended celebrated the promise of a better city.

Read full article at 41WMGT.

One Central Georgia charity wants to revamp an old abandoned school building and make it the heart of a Macon community.

Debra Rollins with Rebuilding Macon presented her idea before the Bibb County board of Commissioners Tuesday.

She says the Elam Alexander school would make the perfect headquarters for the non-profit organization who’s mission is repairing homes for the elderly.

Read more: http://www.13wmaz.com/news/article/144916/175/Macon-Charity-Has-Plans-for-Abandoned-School

This past summer several hundred students came to Macon to paint and rebuild homes. The organization wants to use the school as a place for the students to have a home while they are away from home.

Rebuilding Macon’s Executive Director, Debra Rollins, met with Bibb County Board of Commissioners asking help to fund the project.

They just haven’t figured out how yet.

Commission Chairman Sam Hart said it doesn’t appear the about $2,000 in fees for the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission could be waived, or that the county commission itself could cover the costs. Hart said he hopes commissioners and the county attorneys can find more ideas before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. meeting — and possibly pass the hat for more donations from commissioners themselves.

Read more: http://www.macon.com/2011/09/20/1711158/bibb-commissioners-supportive.html#ixzz1YWF0zYRl