The Fuller Center of Atlanta Legacy Build 2010 Was a Huge Success Thanks to Your Help!

(Atlanta, GA) On September 11th, 2010, we not only commemorated our losses from the September 11th terrorist attacks on America, but we also celebrated the Fuller Center 2010 Legacy Build and dedicated 100 houses that were recently built or renovated by volunteers nationwide, 6 of which were in Atlanta. We’ve been working every other weekend all summer to finish up these homes and look forward to starting on more homes next weekend.

Yesterday was a wonderful celebration of what volunteers, local citizens, neighbors, friends, families, church groups, non-profits and businesses can accomplish by working together to achieve the common goal of eradicating poverty and substandard housing right here at home for all Americans one home at a time. It was a very rewarding experience to all those who participated  in Project Lakewood on site and off. The ultimate reward was an experience and sense of satisfaction of a job well done that no amount of money can buy. We thank everyone who participated from the bottom of our hearts. Your contribution made a difference and forever changed the lives of others.

Though I have been a big supporter of the Fuller Center of Atlanta since shortly after they were founded 3 short years ago, I hadn’t gotten my hands dirty renovating and repairing homes down at Project Lakewood until earlier this Summer. Since doing so, I have met dozens and dozens of faithful volunteers and neighbors who are down there every other weekend lending a helping hand to those in need. Seeing these people down there working so hard for a cause much bigger than themselves often makes me feel a little guilty that I can’t be down there on the ground helping out more often due to my busy business and personal life. Maybe many of you find yourself in a similar position… you want to help more but just don’t have the time to come down and help as often as you would like. This is OK since I also realized that there are many other ways we can lend a helping hand long after the workday is over.

We can not only help by donating our time on the ground in Lakewood, but we can also help spread the word of our good works and need for more volunteers throughout the year by word-of-mouth, networking, social networking online and more.  We can also help raise awareness, money, materials, skilled labor sources, donors, sponsors and so forth. By getting involved, you will find all sorts of ways you can use your unique skill set to help us and help others in need.  A big part of what I personally would like to do is to capture you on film or video when you are down working on Project Lakewood and post these photos and videos online so we can all share them with our friends and family. This will allow us all to spread the word and our good works online and encourage others to follow your lead so they too can come out and help us in our efforts in any way they can.

If you haven’t yet come out and joined Atlanta REIA, the Fuller Center of Atlanta, Sustainable Lakewood and the many other volunteer groups, now is the perfect opportunity for you to get involved and help us build, renovate and repair more homes for needy Atlanta families than ever before! Now that the Legacy Build 2010 is behind us, next weekend we are starting on a whole new  set of projects for next year’s celebration. With Fall and Winter approaching, we will be doing our best to fix up the damaged exteriors of many Lakewood homes before the cold weather sets in. We will be fixing leaky roofs, broken glass and drafty windows and doing our best to winterize these homes. Since the weather is still warm out, we will be doing a lot of exterior repairs and painting, so come out and join us!

On September 18th at 9:30 AM, we will be meeting at the newly renovated house we just dedicated at 10 Gould Street to start power washing, scraping and painting a dilapidated, owner occupied house just down the street.  On October 2nd at 9:30 AM, Atlanta REIA and the Fuller Center of Atlanta are looking for volunteers to come out and team up with Sustainable Lakewood, a non-profit neighborhood association, as well as local neighbors and church groups to help clean up and remove all of the trash and debris from illegal dumping, littering, decay and over growth of plant life from at least 4 of the worst streets in Lakewood including Gould Street. Volunteers should dress appropriately for getting dirty and bring gloves, bug spray, garbage bags, pruning shears, shovels, rakes, machetes, Roundup herbacide, etc to help with the clean up. We’ll be separating the recyclables from the garbage, bagging it and putting it out on the curb for the city to pickup. We’ll be securing vacant, dilapidated houses and local artists and youth will be painting the plywood used to board up the homes making them look more attractive and thwarting further vandalism. We’d love your help, so please come join us and help clean up Lakewood!

For a schedule of our Fuller Center Saturday Volunteer Workdays, see our Atlanta REIA Events Calendar and pay particular attention to the Saturday Events to see when and where we meet. Thanks again everyone who has volunteered so far. Your help is greatly appreciated!