Focus

For the past five years, NRCA actively has been involved with Rebuilding Together,® the largest U.S. volunteer organization that preserves and revitalizes low-income homes, nonprofit organizations and communities. In addition to helping Rebuilding Together procure roofing materials and services for its various projects, NRCA has sponsored the organization's biggest event—its annual Kickoff to Rebuild, which is held just before the Super Bowl.

At Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla., Rebuilding Together held its 10th Anniversary Kickoff to Rebuild by rehabilitating the Lawrence F. Lee Memorial Boys & Girls Club. The club is dedicated to inspiring and enabling young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances.

Local Rebuilding Together volunteers were joined by NRCA Executive Vice President Bill Good; NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and his wife, Chandler; Miss America 2005 Diedre Downs; and various NFL players and officials. The group helped clean, repair and paint interior drywall; install new doors and locks; install new ceiling tiles; repair and paint handrails on stairs; and clean and landscape the facility's yard.

"NRCA is delighted to be one of the sponsors for this project to rehabilitate a facility," Good says. "We're proud of our partnership with Rebuilding Together and our sponsorship that will help restore the Lawrence F. Lee Boys & Girls Club and enable it to continue to serve the needs of the community."

Other sponsors of the event are Irwin Industrial Tools, Wilmington, Ohio; Countrywide® Financial, Calabasas, Calif.; The Home Depot, Atlanta; Family Handyman magazine; Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta; Honeywell Corp., Morristown, N.J.; International Truck and Engine Corp., Warrenville, Ill.; and Publix Super Markets Charities Inc., Lakeland, Fla.

"Rebuilding Together is all about partnerships and bringing together diverse populations to deliver tangible transformations in our communities. At this year's event, Rebuilding Together and another NFL charitable partner, the Boys & Girls Club, will make a difference in hundreds of lives," says Patricia Riley Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Rebuilding Together.

Rebuilding Together also recently secured NRCA member RL Campbell Roofing Co., Jacksonville, as its lead roofing contractor in the Jacksonville area to assist the local affiliate with its charitable efforts.

For more information about Rebuilding Together, log on to www.rebuildingtogether.org. To see photos of the Super Bowl project, click here.

Ambika Puniani Bailey is editor of Professional Roofing magazine and NRCA's director of communications.