Restoring Homes. Touching Lives.

Hearts & Hammers works to keep people safely in the homes they love. Serving communities in the Twin Cities, Minnesota and Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas.

Hearts & Hammers volunteers improving a home's exterior

A volunteer posing while smiling with a homeowner

Mission:

Hearts & Hammers strengthens communities by providing volunteer-driven exterior home repairs that enable qualifying seniors, disabled individuals, and veterans to live safely, independently, and with dignity in their own homes.

Vision:

Communities where every Senior, Disabled Individual, and Veteran homeowners can live safely, independently, and with dignity in their own homes.

Purpose

To prevent displacement, support aging in place, and preserve the dignity of our neighbors through free, volunteer-powered home repairs.

Hearts & Hammers volunteers in front of a home

Our History

In 1986, Peace Corps volunteer and architect Bob Walker and a group of fellow volunteers were looking for a way to use their skills in service to their community. They began by refurbishing the home of an elderly minister in their hometown of Dallas. The following year, they completed nine additional homes. Soon after, Hearts & Hammers was born.

After relocating to the Twin Cities in 1997, Walker helped establish the Minnesota chapter of Hearts & Hammers, which continues to expand its work each year.

Today, Hearts & Hammers operates as one nonprofit organization, uniting its Minnesota and Texas programs under shared leadership and values. What began as a single home painted by twenty-four volunteers has grown into thousands of volunteers completing exterior repairs on thousands of homes across the Twin Cities and Dallas–Fort Worth communities.