Helping Neighbors One Roof, Nail or Board at a Time

Volunteers with Rutherford Housing Partnership make repairs, including building decks and wheelchair ramps on homes.

Volunteers with Rutherford Housing Partnership will tell you that to be able to touch someone’s life by providing much-needed home repairs is powerful — that adding a wheelchair ramp or replacing a roof is truly a labor of love. Since 1995, RHP has provided 1,269 repairs. 

The organization is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special fundraising campaign, the “Help A Neighbor” campaign. It is a dollar-for-dollar matching program from an anonymous donor through the fund Point Set Match. The donor saw a segment done on RHP’s Women Roofers on the NBC Nightly News, and contributed $25,000 as a result. 

“When I talked to groups about the Women Roofers publicity, I would say I was waiting for the ‘big fat check,’” said Nell Perry Bovender, executive director of RHP. “And then we received the anonymous donation for $25,000.”

In the spring of 2014, Bovender received a phone call from the donor, who told her that due to not only the sincere nature of the volunteers but also the sincere thank you she received for her donation, that she wanted to again help the organization. 

“Our board developed a strategic plan around her desire to do a matching donation,” Bovender explained. “We came up with a goal of $80,000, and Point Set Match will match every dollar given through January 31.” 

RHP also asked the donor to honor donations from sustaining donors - those who send checks monthly to help support RHP’s work. Point Set Match will honor all 2015 donations from sustaining partners who sign a pledge form by January 31 indicating how much they plan to give monthly.

The donation marks the largest from an individual, Bovender said. 

“She just wants to help,” she said. “It feels overwhelming, because most days we are taking phone calls, and everything is just sort of an emergency. To have the work of this organization recognized by someone out of the county was surprising. The money is just the icing on the cake.” 

Tax-deductible donations to Rutherford Housing Partnership may be mailed to P.O. Box 1525, Rutherfordton, NC 28139. For more information on RHP, visit www.RutherfordHousingPartnership.com or call 828-248-3431.