St Johns Housing Partnership Works with Local Volunteers to Participate in 2014 Make a Difference Day
St. Augustine, Florida (PRWEB) September 24, 2014 -- The St Johns Housing Partnership (SJHP) will assist elderly, veterans and disabled residents living on extremely low incomes in St. Johns County with exterior painting, yard clean-up, minor repairs and building a wheelchair ramp to celebrate Make A Difference Day (MDD), the largest national day of community service. For over two decades, Make a Difference Day connects people with opportunities to serve, increases the strength of communities and promotes civic engagement.
Through Make A Difference Day, the SJHP is joining hundreds of other organizations around the country that are engaging their community in service. For 15 years, The St. Johns Housing Partnership has participated in MDD and helped hundreds of homeowners throughout the county by coordinating more than 1,000 volunteers over the years to paint, landscape, build wheelchair ramps and repair homes for those in need.
This year, the SJHP is hoping to provide services to at least 15 families and over 150 volunteers will gather together to “Make A Difference” in their lives. The SJHP is currently seeking donations and volunteers to make their goal a reality. Many of their past volunteer groups have already committed teams to the event, but there is plenty of room and time for others to join in.
Several of these homes have already received weatherization services through the SJHP weatherization assistance program to improve the homes’ energy efficiency and indoor air quality. Others have received emergency repair services through St. Johns County’s SHIP program and the Federal Home Loan Bank along with other critical funding sources. The SJHP is using this opportunity to bring “added value” to these elderly, veteran and disabled households. The goal is to reduce the immediate (lower utility bills) and long term maintenance costs of the homes. Many families are living on extremely-low fixed incomes and often must choose between paying a utility bill and purchasing medication or food.
Volunteers will be working tirelessly to improve our community through this national day of volunteer service. For more information on how you can help, call the St. Johns Housing Partnership at 824-0902, go to our website at http://www.sjhp.org or find us on Facebook.
Gina Birmingham, St. John's Housing Partnership, http://www.sjhp.org, +1 (904) 824-0902, [email protected]
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