Moms and sons team up to repair Kansas City homes on Rebuilding Day

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Hammers swung and ramps went up across the metro Saturday as hundreds of volunteers worked to make 23 homes safer for families who need it most.

The work was part of Rebuilding Together Kansas City’s biggest day of the year.

The organization mobilized hundreds of volunteers to help repair dozens of homes and complete modifications that help low-income and disabled homeowners live safer, healthier lives. The effort is part of the organization’s annual flagship program, Rebuilding Day. Volunteers who had already signed up and been assigned to a crew were spread across 23 home repair sites throughout Clay, Platte and Jackson counties.

At one home, some of the busiest hands belonged to moms and their sons, working through the Young Men’s Service League, or YMSL.

“We just like help out the community to like mow lawns, like get like big stuff out of the way, and like leaves and stuff. So we’re helping this house right here, and we’re just clearing stuff out of the house. We’re going to be here for like probably like eight hours and just like helping the community,” said Kruger Thurston, a YMSL volunteer.

Thurston said he arrived around 8:15 that morning with friends from his school, Shawnee Mission East.

“It means a lot because, I mean, these people probably can’t do it. So we all do it and come in a big group so we can get it done quickly,” Thurston said.

Kalista Engelman, a YMSL leader, said the group pairs mothers with their high school-age sons to provide community service.

“We moms work with our high school sons to provide community service,” Engelman said. “It’s so meaningful. The boys love it. They get to experience how precious it is to help people.”

Engelman said YMSL partnered with Rebuilding Together Kansas City for the project.

“Whether it’s inside the home or outside with landscaping. We help clean up, we provide any services that they really need us to do to help their living better,” Engelman said.

She said 120 volunteers turned out for the one home, about half of them teenage boys and half of them their mothers.

“The homeowner is so appreciative. She’s actually even a part of it right now, helping pick out what she wants to be, throwing in a dumpster, what cleaned up, really helping direct. And, I mean, it can be life-changing. I mean, she now will have space and just have a better lifestyle,” Engelman said.

Engelman said the volunteers represented three area high schools: Shawnee Mission East, Rockhurst and Pembroke.