Wednesday, June 22, 2016

PRTR has been busy this summer!  Since our inception, people frequently ask, “If you help people today, how do you know their house won’t just go back up for auction the next year?”  The answer is simple.  We make outreach phone calls and house visits to keep in close contact will all of our clients throughout the year to assess their needs.  We make sure they have simple tools, such as transportation to City offices, or minutes on their phones.

Some of our clients have not only gotten themselves back on track, but have taken the next step: guiding their friends and neighbors on the path to homeownership and/or retention.  Some of yesterday’s emergency clients have even become PRTR donors themselves!  Many things have come full circle in the short 2.5 years since we were founded.

Remember Mr. A who immediately set to work volunteering for Miss Debra?  He now owns a donated utility van, transforming him into a business owner and handy man, cutting lawns and doing odd jobs–often even hired by other PRTR clients!

Remember Sam, our army veteran who nearly lost his house to the LRA over a few hundred dollars in property taxes?  Thanks to PRTR and some pro bono legal work by civil rights attorney Eric Vickers, Sam redeemed his property and got his printing business up and running.  Check out the new PRTR shirts his company Ma’De Life designed for us!

Thanks to our volunteers and contributions–small and large–from our recurring monthly donors, Project Raise The Roof has spent 2016 assisting our clients with legal representation, estate planning, education on municipal processes, household budgeting, finding stable employment, and entrepreneurial endeavors.  We remain deeply committed to restoring or creating sustainability in St. Louis City neighborhoods–one home at a time, one family at a time.  Thank you ALL for your continued support of our mission.  We’d like to give a HUGE round of applause to our clients for overcoming economic hardships and getting by with a little help from friends to find a path toward success.  When clients and donors are neighbors who become friends, there’s no limit to what our City can accomplish together.