The Loras Network of Des Moines partnered up with 24 Loras College students and staff for a “Rebuilding Together” event Saturday in Iowa’s capital.

This group is one of several across the country that repair homes for low- income or elderly persons. This year in Des Moines alone, there were 35 homes that were worked on by volunteers with Rebuilding Together. 

Ashley Slota

Loras students teamed up with alums in a “Rebuild Together” project that benefited elderly and disabled homeowners in Des Moines.

This is the first year that current Loras students joined the Loras alums in Rebuilding Together Des Moines. Current members of the Loras Student Alumni Council and the Iowa Campus Compact AmeriCorps Program offered their services.

The students were responsible for caulking, priming, painting, repairing steps and fences, cleaning up yards, and completing numerous tasks requiring carpentry and plumbing skills.

The homeowners who benefited from the work were elderly, impoverished or disabled people who were unable to perform the tasks themselves.

Rebuilding Together is a national organization that has gained increasing prominence over the past few years.  The Loras Club of Des Moines (currently the Loras Network of Des Moines) became involved with Rebuilding Together about 15 years ago through Dick Wright (class of ’57), who was the house captain for the first Rebuilding Together project in which Loras alumni were involved. Since then, the Loras Network of Des Moines has been actively involved with Rebuilding Together.

For the past seven years, Scott Peterson (class of ’76) has served as a house captain for one of the Rebuilding Together groups in the Des Moines area, and always joining his team are Loras alumni and members of other local businesses, including John Deere Credit, Des Moines Parrot Head Club, the Ankeny Police Department and the Giles Street Association.

“The greatest part of Rebuilding Together for me is stepping back at the end of the day and seeing what a tremendous impact the volunteers have made on someone’s life,” Peterson remarked. “As we do the ‘walk through’ to review the jobs completed, we never fail to bring tears of gratitude to the eyes of the homeowner.”

Student members of Iowa Campus Compact were participating in honor of National Americorps week which will be held May 14-21. AmeriCorps members in the Iowa Campus AmeriCorps Program serve 300 or 450 hours of service over the span of a year. They volunteer with local non-profits doing a multitude of tasks from mentoring to rebuilding projects.

AmeriCorps works through existing organizations and helps reach more people and better achieve their mission. In 2010, there were 83,000 AmeriCorps members who recruited 2.6 million community volunteers to serve alongside them in about 14,000 nonprofit, faith-based and community organizations across the country.

Loras has 40 members who will be finishing up their service by the end of the summer. These 40 members have contributed at least 12,000 hours to community non-profit organizations and events. Services range from mentoring the youth to informing the community about sustainability.

“I think it is beneficial for Loras AmeriCorps members to be exposed to and engaged in the atmosphere of a large, one-day service project during their term of service, even better that this one involved Loras alumni in Des Moines, exemplifying the fourth disposition of being a ‘responsible contributor’ beyond their Loras education,” said Maggie Baker, service learning coordinator. “It can be a powerful experience for students and really get them invested in thinking about how they can continue serving their community after they graduate.”