Rebuilding Together Saratoga County, Inc. (RTSC) has approached its fourth year of existence this November and I wanted to thank all of you for the part you have played in its success. I receive many “kudos” because of this venture, but we all know that one person is not responsible for “making it happen.” The reality is that the program wouldn’t exist without OUR CHURCH! In fact, the inspiration for starting this local affiliate was the result of working with our church family on Rebuilding Together sites in other areas, such as Washington DC, Hartford and Boston and being prodded to take action by Anne Diggory.

In the beginning, our Board of Directors made a conscious decision to establish RTSC as a countywide secular organization whose motto is “neighbors helping neighbors.” The bottom line, however, is that RTSC would never have happened without so many of our great friends from this church coming forth and doing whatever they could to help. In fact, five of the founding Board members were from our church: Susan Palumbo, Heather Green, Louise and John Rourke and Dan Larkin. Each one took a great leap of faith four years ago, rolled up their sleeves and helped start the ball rolling. As you know, starting a new program takes enormous amounts of energy to get off the ground, and they, along with the other Board members, gave 150 percent.

Our church members are involved in all aspects of this program. Project Captains (essentially, project managers), such as Jim Cumming, Lee Ecker, and Chuck and Lou Ann Stewart spend countless days on work sites. Chuck Kochheiser walks up and down Broadway getting auction donations. Women such as Dorothy Keltner, Jackie Nagel, and Ginnie Ernst, who feel they can’t swing a hammer very well but want to do something, have literally pressed money into my hands at church. The Women’s Association and so many more of you have given money to buy building materials and support us by coming to our annual fundraising dinner. The Governing Board allows our Board of Directors to meet in the Nolan House and many of you work your tails off on work sites. Even the teens, such as Dylan Davis and Emily Koella, call or email me to get involved.

The list is endless of what you do with and for RTSC. There is no way to acknowledge every single one of you, but you can see that the success of RTSC is directly related to our church and its mission of doing what’s right and good in the community. We are a group of people not afraid of rolling up our sleeves and tackling whatever needs to be done.

Our success also has to do with the fact that there is a need in the county and we are helping to fulfill that need. Helping our low-income neighbors stay in their home is one way all of us and RTSC can help deal with the affordable housing issue.

I thank you for all you’ve done to launch RTSC and look forward to another successful year in 2008, at which time we will reach and surpass our goal of 100 projects.

With gratitude,

Michelle Larkin

Board President, RTSC