New Orleans – February 12, 2008 – Rebuilding Together New Orleans, a leader in the city’s post-hurricane renewal, will be hosting almost 400 NBA volunteers during the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service on February 15, 2008. Rebuilding Together New Orleans is part of Rebuilding Together, the nation’s leading non-profit working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods.
The NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service will include NBA All-Stars and other volunteers, who will help revitalize the Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orleans. An army of volunteers will focus on painting and revitalizing nine houses on a three-block stretch of Lizardi Street. Rebuilding Together New Orleans has rehabilitated 75 hurricane-damaged homes across the city and has 37 more projects in progress.
“The NBA Cares Day of Service project provides an opportunity to leave an even deeper impact on the community, by bringing hundreds of volunteers to Holy Cross for a one-day painting blitz,” said Kristin Gisleson Palmer, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together New Orleans. “This event is the culmination of the NBA’s investment in the city. NBA Cares donated more than $200,000 towards the renovations of ten homes and a community center in New Orleans, and with the support of the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service they have clearly demonstrated their commitment to rebuild New Orleans.”
Holy Cross is one of five target areas Rebuilding Together New Orleans has been focusing on since the storm, and this one-day event will highlight the ongoing needs of the community as the organization continues to rebuild the great city of New Orleans.
“We are delighted to have the NBA family join the ranks of thousands of Rebuilding Together volunteers and partners who work with our national Affiliate Network of nearly 225 affiliates to help low-income homeowners stay in safe, healthy and affordable housing,” said Gary A. Officer, CEO of Rebuilding Together, Inc. “Rebuilding Together expects to rehabilitate as many as 10,000 homes in 2008 and it is partnerships with giants such as the NBA that bring our work to life.”
Rebuilding Together provides no-cost home modifications, rehabilitation services to low-income homeowners nationwide through the work of legions of community volunteers and national partnerships with philanthropic businesses and organizations.
About Rebuilding Together and Rebuilding Together New Orleans
Rebuilding Together is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and neighborhoods by providing rehabilitation services free of charge to those in need. Rebuilding Together celebrated the rehabilitation of its 100,000th home in 2006 and has grown to nearly 225 affiliates nationwide. Rebuilding Together New Orleans is a part of the Rebuilding Together Affiliate Network and their home rehabilitation program targets the populations most affected by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans: the urban poor. Families that return to their homes in New Orleans – rather than live in exile or in a trailer – sustain a constant, stable, healthy living environment while building their equity and regaining financial independence.
