'Hold the rope': Rebuilding Together brings volunteers together to help Worthington family

Sep. 13—WORTHINGTON — Armed with shovels, a wheelbarrow and lots of kindness, about 40 volunteers turned up at two Worthington homes Saturday to lend a hand to locals in need through Rebuilding Together Minnesota.

"Thank you so much for taking the time out from your day, from your life," said Mary Engidaw, owner of one of the two Worthington homes that became work sites for the nonprofit that day. "That's wonderful. Times are hard these days."

Rebuilding Together Minnesota is part of a national nonprofit with chapters all over the U.S. Its focus is supporting low-income homeowners by performing basic repairs and upgrades to their homes, often allowing seniors, disabled people or low-income families to stay in their homes. Many of the services are performed by volunteers, and contractors are hired for the rest, said Jason Schumann, on behalf of the organization.

Just last year, the group opened an office in Windom, where it pulls together local and national funding to help homeowners in the Worthington-Windom-Jackson area. Since then, about 50 homeowners have been helped, some with kits including smoke detectors and home improvement items.

"A lot of our volunteers are good handy-people, and that helps a lot," said Galen Kauffman, Rebuilding Together's program manager for southwest Minnesota, who was also working at Engidaw's home on Saturday.

A host of Rebuilding Together volunteers gathered on Engidaw's lawn Saturday, ready to upgrade her home in a number of ways — including putting in new landscaping designed to direct water away from the basement rather than toward it, installing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fixing and installing doors, cleaning gutters and adding downspouts and leaf guards to them.

At the other home, the work included adding grab bars and replacing kitchen flooring as well as putting in a new furnace.

Volunteers ranged in age from 18 to 75, said volunteer Glenn Thuringer, and included a group of young men from the Worthington High School Trojans football team.

"We've been working on and off in the evenings so we could have a successful day (Saturday)," Thuringer said.

Volunteers also did all of the fundraising, said Kathryn Greiner, executive director of Rebuilding Together Minnesota.

"Everything we do is at no cost to the homeowners," Kauffman added.

The football players pushing wheelbarrows, digging channels for landscaping and occasionally tossing a football back and forth as they worked included team captains Nono Opiew, Abagotte Opiew, Kasey Gerhard and Nasim Zeidi.

They received a call from WHS teacher Patrick Mahoney asking for assistance on the project, and along with a number of teammates, they answered the call.

When asked why, Nono pointed out that Mahoney helps them out, and that the team always has a great time volunteering together too. They work on community projects as a group all the time, Abagotte said.

"It's good bonding," Zeidi chipped in.

They came there, the captains agreed, to "hold the rope."

"It's an analogy our coach uses," Gerhard explained. "Basically, if you're ever hanging off a cliff, who would you trust to hold your rope... and pull you to safety?"

It's all about trust and community, and to hold that rope for someone else, the football players spent their Saturday morning with others in their community, digging a trench and helping someone who needed a hand: Engidaw and her family.

Times certainly haven't been easy lately for Engidaw or her four children, Mikeayla, 12, Harmony, 6, Stephon, Jr., 4 or Helmaie, 2, who live in a home on North Burlington Avenue.

In 2018, Engidaw's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she became her mother's primary caregiver. Knowing that she could find a new job but could not get more time with her parent, Engidaw focused on her mother. When cancer took her mother's life in 2018, her house went to Engidaw.

While she was accustomed to doing maintenance activities such as mowing the lawn and shoveling snow, homeownership proved unexpectedly challenging.

"My hot water stopped working, and I did not know why," Engidaw recalled.

She had to get a new water heater, and when that was being installed, the workers let her know that her sump pump needed to be replaced. Before she'd passed away, Engidaw's mother had taken off the smoke detectors, so those needed to be replaced as well. It seemed to be one thing after another, and all of it was expensive, particularly for a single parent still mourning for her mother.

"It's still a learning process," Engidaw said.

She said she would encourage anyone who fits Rebuilding Together Minnesota's guidelines to apply for the assistance, noting that she'd been turned down several times by other similar programs.

"I got shut down so many times. Somebody is going to be out there willing to help you, you know?" Engidaw added.

While Rebuilding Together Minnesota focuses on the elderly, families with children and veterans, they don't exclude others from getting the help too.

Those who wish to apply should visit rtmn.org, Greiner said, adding that the organization is starting to look for spring projects. Those who wish to volunteer — contractors, but also people who are handy or even unhandy people willing to help out — should also go to the Rebuilding Together website for more information, or contact Kauffman at G.Kauffman@RTMN.org.

Sponsors for Saturday's work included Wells Fargo, Cemstone, Tru Shine Truck Wash, Mike Woll Investment Office, Henning Construction, Inc., Hy-Vee, Bedford Industries, First State Bank Southwest, Sanford Health, Worthington Building Materials, Worthington Federal Savings Bank and Juniper.