Major Partners

Experts from the Emmy Award-winning home improvement series This Old House are joined by team members from the magazine of the same name and web site www.thisoldhouse.com on HomeFront Day to renovate the dwelling of one deserving homeowner each year. They travel from offices in New York City and Boston to participate.

Throughout their ever-expanding support, one note has remained constant: the basic desire to help people. The words of This Old House Master Carpenter Norm Abram best sum up the philosophy behind the AmeriCares Homefront program, “Homes are not just roofs over our heads. They are an expression of who we are, a place where we spend time with our families. Building, improving and maintaining a home gives us a sense of warmth, stability and comfort. To be able to extend these things to other people in need through our volunteer efforts is immensely satisfying to all of us.”

The partnership with This Old House began in 1998. Since that time, the team has come to the aid of eight homeowners.

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At AmeriCares HomeFront, partnerships are built to last. One long-standing and valued collaborator has been the Office of Urban Affairs of the Archdiocese of Hartford (OUA). Since 1994, the OUA has been responsible for organizing thousands of volunteers to help revitalize homes and community centers.

OUA-supported volunteer teams are comprised of single parishes, multiple parishes from within the same geographic area, and interfaith partners who are joined by local businesses to work on projects demonstrating the greatest recipient need in the Greater Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury regions.

According to the OUA, it’s a meaningful partnership in that a community of volunteers  walks away from a project with a sense of having helped a neighbor and changed lives for the better, raising spirits and restoring hope, by making essential home repairs for those who are unable to do so on their own.