HGTV comes to Baltimore later this month, teaming with nonprofit Rebuilding Together Baltimore for a week of home-improvement work in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
“There?s going to be a lot of activity going on,” said Bonnie Bessor, RTB?s executive director.
In addition to making repairs to about 40 homes in Pen Lucy in Baltimore City and Turner Station in Baltimore County on RTB?s annual Rebuilding Day 2008 on April 26, the group will work with HGTV on three projects during the week of April 28 to May 2 as part of HGTV?s Change the World ? Start at Home community revitalization campaign.
During the week, RTB and volunteers will make improvements to a home and an empty lot in Pen Lucy and a nonprofit center in Waverly in Baltimore City.
Bessor said about 1,000 volunteers will help with the projects, but RTB is still seeking skilled plumbers, electricians, carpenters, masons and general handymen/women.
“We have a lot of people who have stepped forward, which is fabulous, but we still need skilled workers,” Bessor said.
A secure stair banister, a freshly painted wall and a sturdy door lock are things some homeowners might take for granted, said Donella Johnson, of Commercial Interiors, a Hanover-based general contracting and interior construction firm. Commercial Interiors is sponsoring repairs made to a Pen Lucy home as part of Rebuilding Day.
Volunteers will make repairs to the home?s roof, walls and floors, and make other improvements such as replacing door locks and adding a bench to a bathtub.
RTB, with a $300,000 annual budget, has repaired more than 975 homes and invested more than $6 million in Baltimore City and Baltimore County since 1989. Baltimore was selected ? along with Denver, New Orleans, the Twin Cities and Washington, D.C. ? by national voters to be a part of HGTV?s community revitalization project.
This is RTB?s 19th annual Rebuilding Day, with the added excitement of the HGTV project in the same week.
“We?ll take our breather on May 3 this year,” Bessor said.
