When Hearts & Hammers first visited Christine Johnson’s White Bear Lake home, we were concerned about the condition of the deck that provided access to her back door. It had deteriorated to the point that repairing portions of it wasn’t enough – the deck needed to be completely rebuilt.
It was also the kind of project that required more construction experience than many of our traditional volunteer teams bring to a Program Day. Fortunately, we knew just the right partner.
It was the kind of project that required more construction experience than many of our traditional volunteer teams bring to a Program Day. Fortunately, we knew just the right partner.
A partnership built around community
This summer, participants in the Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota Construction Training Program put their developing skills to work at Christine’s home, building a new deck, steps and platform that provide a safer and more usable entrance to the house.
Hearts & Hammers and Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota share a belief that hands-on work can have an impact well beyond the project itself. The Goodwill-Easter Seals Construction Training Program helps participants build the skills and experience needed to pursue careers in the construction industry. Hearts & Hammers provides free home repairs for older adults, people with disabilities and veterans who need help maintaining safe and livable homes.
Christine’s project brought those two missions together.
“This project represents much more than a newly constructed deck,” said Wesley Petersen, Project Manager/Instructor with Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota. “It reflects a shared commitment to removing barriers to employment and creating sustainable housing.”
For the construction training participants, the project provided an opportunity to apply what they have learned on a real job site while completing work that would immediately benefit a homeowner in their community.
Petersen said the team was especially proud of the professionalism, craftsmanship and teamwork demonstrated by the participants throughout the project.
For Hearts & Hammers, partnerships like this allow us to take on projects that don’t always fit neatly into our traditional volunteer model while keeping community involvement at the center of the work.
A home with a little history
Christine’s home has a story of its own.
The house on Long Avenue dates to around 1915, and Christine says it originally served as a general store for the surrounding area before eventually becoming a residence.
More than a century later, the former store still stands at a community crossroads, near Highway 96 and the railroad tracks that have been part of White Bear Lake’s landscape since its earliest days.
Helping Christine stay safe and independent in her home is exactly the kind of work Hearts & Hammers was created to do.
Sometimes that means a large volunteer team painting a house and repairing siding in a single day. Other times, it means finding a community partner with the skills and experience to tackle a more specialized project.
At Christine’s house, it meant bringing together a homeowner who needed some help, a group of people learning a trade, and two organizations that saw an opportunity to accomplish something together.
The result is a beautifully constructed new deck and platform – and one very happy homeowner.
As Petersen put it, projects like Christine’s show “how workforce development and community service can come together to create meaningful change.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Thank you to Wesley and the entire Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota Construction Training team for their work at Christine’s home. Our partnership is already continuing, with another Goodwill-Easter Seals construction team preparing to help Hearts & Hammers build a much-needed accessibility ramp for another homeowner.
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