Every year Rebuilding Together takes part in a day of service to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

From Rebuilding Together, “Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a National Day of Service and an opportunity for Americans to honor his legacy through community service. The MLK Day of Service provides the means in which to get involved. This National Day of Service is led by the Corporation for National and Community Service, with projects occurring across the country.”

This year we combined forces with The Temple group from Atlanta. From their website, “The Temple is Atlanta's oldest synagogue, founded in 1867. The Temple-Hebrew Benevolent Congregation is one of American Judaism's most famous religious institutions. Centrally located in the heart of Atlanta, The Temple prides itself in offering a diverse program of worship, learning, and social justice opportunities. We are a Reform congregation -- rooted in tradition, and blessed with a keen eye focused on the present and future needs of the Jewish people.” Every year they perform a Social Action project in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and this year they were back in Tampa.

The home chosen this year for our Day of Service project was for a resident in Sulphur Springs, the Gastmanns. Mr. Gastmann is a Korean War veteran who served in the Navy in the mid to late 1950’s. He has lived in his home in Sulphur Springs for 39 years. In 2009, the home was damaged by a fire and sustained in excess of $50,000 in damages.  He was able to obtain most of the funds to repair his home through personal savings and a grant, which required a lien to be placed upon his home for 12 year after which the lien will be forgiven.  The home’s exterior still needs to be pressure washed and painted.  In addition, there is some yard cleanup and fence repair to be done.  He is not able to do the work himself as he has had to undergo two heart stint operations and needs knee replacement surgery, which the doctors will not authorize, because of the condition of his heart.     

President Obama asked all of us to use Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a Day of Service to honor the legacy of him.  Rebuilding Together uses that day as an annual project to assist a resident that otherwise would not be able to help him or herself.  Thanks to the efforts of forty-five 8^th, 9^th, 10^th and 11^th graders from Atlanta, Mr. and Mrs. Gastmann finally have a home that no longer shows signs of the fire that ravaged it three long years ago.  They left Tampa to go back to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon but they will never leave the hearts of the Gastmanns who are thankful for the help and grateful to finally have erased that tragedy from three years ago.