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CORRECTION: TO CONTACT REBUILDING TOGETHER SARATOGA COUNTY, CALL 518 -587 -3315.

Rebuilding Together Helping Elderly, Low-Income Families Repair Their Homes

By Colette Linton 

SARATOGA SPRINGS— Linda Kahn, whose welcoming personality is as warm and welcoming as her home in Saratoga Springs, turns 90 years young next month in a house that she’s lived in for 57 years.

She boasts its three rooms saying that they are “for when the kids come over to visit” which they will be soon to celebrate her birthday.

Also, after a volunteer crew with Rebuilding Together Saratoga installed a new bathroom, repaired the circuit breaker and electric wiring in her home, installed hand rails in the bathroom and going down the stairs leading into the basement, she is now prouder than ever of what the community is able to do.

“In the kitchen, I couldn’t use the microwave and the toaster oven at the same time. I’d blow a fuse,” Kahn said. “When we bought the house it was like a shell. It had wood floors that were rotted. It had nothing.”

Kahn sent an application to Rebuilding Together of Saratoga County after she heard from someone else of the quality of the home repairs and installations they complete.

Soon she saw the group’s workmanship for herself.

“I had a doctor’s appointment first thing in the morning, and I came home and there were dozens, at least 20 (volunteers),” she said. “It was fantastic. Off and on they would (be here) because these were volunteers, professional, unbelievable people. I didn’t even have to hang around for them. It was that kind of honest, nice caliber.”

Since then she’s helped to persuade others to consider applying.

The assistance Rebuilding Together provides helps to maintain a safe and comfortable atmosphere for its applicants. In this way, it may even help the elderly stay in their homes longer.

 “That’s a lot of the work that we are doing now is helping elderly folks with their home repairs to keep them safe in their homes,” said Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Saratoga Michelle Larkin. “I’d like to say to people as an elderly person that I’m sure that throughout your life you’ve helped plenty of people; so, now is an opportunity for the community to help you.”

Sometimes the elderly may be a little more hesitant to reach out to an organization such as Rebuilding Together, Larkin said. 

“Maybe they’re very independent. They’re used to taking care of themselves and the struggle is that they want to stay in their home but they just need an ADA toilet,” Larkin said. “That may be something where we could be really helpful so that they can stay in their home.”

Rebuilding Together is nearly limitless in the ways in which its hired contractors and volunteers can assist a home owner at no charge to them. When an application is submitted, Rebuilding Together previews the applicant’s house to observe and make suggestions about where repairs can be made.

“Maybe they need a voluntary OT (occupational therapist) to go out and look at their home and make some suggestions,” Larkin said. “Maybe we could move some furniture. Are there trip hazards? Do they need a ramp? Do they need a low-threshold shower unit?”

“There are all kinds of things that could be looked at in the environment,” she said.

Since the renovations were completed at her home, Kahn has found even more reasons to be proud of her home and community.

“Oh definitely,” she said about the improvements and her increased independence. “I needed the high-rise toilets and the grab bars. I feel very secure there.”

“It’s a warm community,” she said. “There are so many lovely people who are caring and giving of themselves.”

Last year, Rebuilding Together completed 90 sites, or 80 homes and 10 nonprofit facilities. They had a total of 1004 volunteers, who worked a total of 5,592 hours. Since its inception in 2003, they have completed 559 projects and served 1026 people.

This year’s spring workdays for volunteers are approaching quickly and are scheduled for April 26 and 27, May 3 and 4, and May 10. For individuals interested in contributing, but are unable to volunteer this season, there is option of being the ‘pizza patron’. The pizza patron becomes the darling of the day by providing lunch for a volunteer crew for $25.

Interested persons can email or call the office if interested in volunteering. For individuals interested in receiving assistance, or know someone who may want some help, email the office (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or call Rebuilding Together Saratoga County at 518-581-3315 to begin the application process.

Rebuilding Together requires that applicants prove household income and that the applicant lives in Saratoga County. All applicants are previewed within a couple of months. Projects that are accepted are generally started within a year of the application.

Picture: Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar 2013 Graduation, provided by SSAS from their website at saratogasponsorascholar.org.

By Colette Linton

SARATOGA SPRINGS - In 2007, Jim LaVigne was describing a plan for an initiative that would prepare ten Saratoga High School sophomores, who were financially in need of assistance, each year by supplying additional support and direction to help them meet their goals and enter college. By the end of that meeting, LaVigne was one of the founding board members as well as volunteer executive director of Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar with 36 pledges of $10, 000 over five years to get the program running.

Seven years later, 54 students have been accepted into the SSAS program and 26 students have started a college career, an opportunity many nearly dismissed as an impossibility prior to the program.

 Unlike scholarships and grants, SSAS begins during a student’s sophomore year in high school and works to reinforce a base of academic achievement during the next three years by providing resources to its participants through the help of volunteer mentors, academic tutors, the program's board members and two of Saratoga High School’s guidance counselors.

 "It's a local cause," LaVigne said. "It's all Saratoga Springs kids. They come back, and they add to the fabric of the community. It is not a gift to these kids. We expect them to fulfill the terms of their contract, attend the homework sessions, use tutors go on school trips be responsible, do volunteer work and just be good citizens."

 If students are accepted into the program, they sign a contract to meet specific requirements during the term of the program. They are to meet with their mentor once a month, maintain their grades above 80 or attend tutoring, have a productive summer, behave in a manner consistent with the standards of SSAS, and attend mandatory weekly study skills programs. In return, SSAS dedicates $10,000 to "each scholar's enrichment" - $4,000 during their last three years of high school for supplies, study skill seminars, tutoring, PSAT and SAT training and entrance fees, seminars on the college application and scholarship process, college visits and attendance to cultural events; and $1,500 is dedicated to each scholar for each year they successfully complete in college.

 The nonprofit reaches out to the population of students each year that are financially in need and qualify for federally assisted/free school lunch program. Currently, 1, 200 students in the Saratoga Springs school district are eligible for federal lunch assistance, and those that are in high school may loose sight and motivation to continue academics after graduation without outside support.

 Within those 1,200 kids, there are those that are really bright, LaVigne said. "They have incentive, they have personality and everything that is needed to succeed, but they don’t have the same opportunities."

 The opportunities LaVigne referred to range from discussions with parents about he possibility of attending college to extracurricular activities that could be added to a college vitae, trips to college campuses to gather a sense of the atmosphere, and paying for the fees associated with applying to college and aptitude exams.

 A part of SSAS' goal is to make up for the opportunities students might otherwise miss due to a lack of finances and or resources.

 "What we promise those kids (SSAS participants) is that for the last three years of high school we give them the opportunities, and we give them the tools that the other kids have and we teach them about how to get into college," LaVigne said. "They just need that precipitating factor and Sponsor-A-Scholar is that. We tell them, we show them, we convince them that they are able to do this and that they can go. They can get out with a reasonable amount of debt and that they can have a much better life."

 High school junior and SSAS participant Davawn Hartz, whose interests are in acting and creative writing, said that without the SSAS program "I would definitely see myself as lost".

 "I'd still have the drive, but I'd be lost," he said. "It shows you where to direct your hard work."

 The program is a continuous element in the lives of SSAS students as well as coordination between the nonprofit and the school. This relationship is aided by high school counselors, Brandy Crary and Matt Nelson, who help ensure that students are maintaining their grades, that the students stay focused and they help chart the route to college.

Mentors in the program are additional supports serving as adult role models that help students identify college resources. They are also paired together to try and be a compliment to the students' skills and interests in addition to encouraging students to meet challenges and grow.

 "They don't take away the obstacles," Hartz said. "They get you through them."

 Mentors, like the board members, are volunteers that do many tasks that are unlimited in scope in order to strengthen the students' relationship with the community and broaden their prospects for higher education. One such relationship is between senior Becky Tibbatts and her mentor, Nedra Stimpfle. The two were paired together two and a half years ago, and they both remarked on the changes that have taken place regarding Tibbatts' outlook on college as an affordable, obtainable opportunity.

"It's hard to imaging my life without Sponsor-A-Scholar," Tibbatts said. "It has changed my life so much. I wouldn't say that I was naive, but I wouldn't put together what it took to get into college: how much tests cost. It is a lot less stressful."

 "She was very shy," Stimpfle said "What the program does is create more possibility in different areas for that (personal development) to happen. She is more confident."

 "Yes, definitely," Tibbatts said in response to Stimpfle's observation. "Back then, I was so scared."

The chance to have a relationship with another adult is important for the students because it is a common part of many experiences that take place in the community as well as in terms of guiding students to and trough opportunities, Stimpfle said. "And for many of these students, it's not in their picture at all."

SSAS is currently looking for mentors for next year as well as individuals interested in being future board members. The program will also host its annual event "Bowling For Scholars" in May. For more information, visit saratogasponsorascholar.org.