Building Hope Newsletter, February

Executive Director & CEO Corner

With gratitude,

In the Neighborhood

Strengthen Your Team at GolfAid

Have you registered yet for GolfAid, to be held at TopGolf Loudoun on March 2, 2023, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.? This is, hands down, one of our most popular ways to network with the region’s top builders and trade partners in a casual environment. It’s an affordable, ‘come as you are’ afternoon out offering a great team building vibe that will make you glad you brought along your colleagues!

Register today – you’ll see that one option is for golfers, giving you full access to everything the event offers, including three hours of unlimited golf at TopGolf’s climate-controlled bays. The second option is for networkers, which offers access to industry leaders, food, drinks, and networking (no golf). Either way, you’ll have a great time while supporting HomeAid and, in turn, our upcoming construction projects for nonprofits serving those experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, including at-risk kids, single moms, veterans, and intellectually disabled adults. We’ll see you there!

 

In Your Community

First Care Day of 2023

A hard-working crew of 10 volunteers from Toll Brothers lent their time and talents on January 17, with our first official Care Day of the new year! Toll Brother volunteers met at Shelter House’s storage unit, where they spent the morning cleaning, organizing, inventorying items, and installing shelving units. HomeAid National Capital Region provided storage bins and additional organizational supplies, and now, Shelter House staff can easily and quickly access the home essentials, clothing, and other items they need to serve and provide for their clients.

Care Days are hands-on volunteer service days during which volunteers come together to give back to a local HomeAid nonprofit partner by landscaping, organizing, and cleaning. If your company is interested in hosting a Care Day, please contact Julianna Blaylock.

Making It Count

What is a Builder Captain

In this new video, you’ll hear directly from a Builder Captain on what it means to give back to the communities where we live, work, and play. Volunteering to become a HomeAid Builder Captain has never been more important, as we have 11 projects of widely varying degrees of complexity in the pipeline this year, with even more pending. Some examples include:

• Ground-up build for an ACTS domestic violence shelter.
• Buildout of space for multiple nonprofits, one of which is Together We Bake – a workforce development program that is currently operating out of a church basement.
• A ground excavation for a collaborative housing project between HomeAid, Habitat for Humanity, and the Fairfax Presbyterian Church to provide Homestretch, a nonprofit serving families experiencing homelessness, with two affordable housing units while an additional eight units will be available to Virginia residents earning not more than 50% of the area median income.  

Builder Captains – the companies that lead our building and renovation projects – are at the heart of our operation. Whether we’re renovating an existing space or building from the ground up for a nonprofit, Builder Captains review construction plans; create a scope of work; provide a budget; assign a superintendent; secure donations of labor and materials; and manage the construction schedule through to completion, always ensuring projects come together successfully. 

Be part of the solution: Reach out to Kristyn Burr to find out more about the scope and location of our many 2023 projects!

Thank you, Builders First Source, for sponsoring the production of this video.

Support Spotlight

How a LinkedIn Post lead to a Seat on the Board

Q: How does your professional background guide you in serving HomeAid?

A: Although I don’t work in the building industry, I have an extensive financial background and have worked with a lot of nonprofits before – including serving on their boards – and my role at Gannett involves running big, complex projects. Those three experiences are all additive to the dynamic on the HomeAid board; I think that boards are actually most effective when members have different but related perspectives. I work every day in a very intensive, people-focused dynamic moving complex projects, and that is, in essence, what HomeAid does.

Q: How did you initially connect with HomeAid, and what led you to say, ‘Yes!’ to getting involved? 

A: I first learned about HomeAid through a LinkedIn post. I clicked through and was hooked when I saw that HomeAid is an organization that helps nonprofits make capital improvements. That’s just a huge service … so much support for nonprofits goes directly to programmatic or staffing needs, and that’s of course important … but funding for capital improvements and investing in physical facilities is so hard to find. The HomeAid model addresses a huge need, and I found it so compelling.

Once I got involved, I quickly learned how strong the leadership is and how well the organization is run. Those were two important factors in my decision to invest both philanthropically and through my time. I’ve since found that the Board and community are extremely supportive and provides the organization a strong foundation. And, after recently returning to Northern Virginia, it’s also just nice way to give back.

Q: What do you love most about your career? 

A: I’m the chief financial officer for Gannett, and while I love a lot about my career path, I most love meeting and mentoring people. Helping get people to the next stage in their career, watching them take on new responsibilities and grow professionally … it’s a really rewarding feeling to have an impact on people’s lives in such a meaningful way.

Announcements

---

Upcoming Events

GolfAid
March 2, 2023 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM
TopGolf Loudoun 20356 Commonwealth Center Sr. Ashburn, VA

The post Building Hope Newsletter, February appeared first on HomeAid National Capital Region.