Individuals Honored During National Volunteer Appreciation Week

Throughout Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 21st – 27th, 2024, Rebuild Upstate honors volunteers and entities for their commitment and service.

This post is part two in a two-part series recognizing volunteers for their service. It features awards traditionally given to community leaders and individuals for volunteerism. Read about entities, businesses, and churches here.

Golden Hammer Award

Awarded to Bob Hannah

The Golden Hammer is awarded to an outstanding individual volunteer who has volunteered their time on the build site. This individual goes above and beyond to help our operations team complete home repair projects.

Bob Hannah has been a longtime loyal Volunteer Site Leader. He’s always eager to sign up to lead groups, and he even organizes his own volunteer group a few times a year. Bob is quick on his feet to overcome any issues that may occur while he is on site. After spending the day on site with Bob, volunteers only have great things to say about him as a Site Leader.

Golden Wrench Award

Awarded to Tom Fruhwirth

Tom is part of the St. Anthony Handyman Club, a growing group of volunteers. We can count on Tom as a problem solver, thinking and pushing for the best solutions for homeowners’ repair needs. He is a strong collaborator and brings positivity to every build. Like all our Handyman Club members, he is a hard worker, often being the first to arrive and last to leave, even coming the following day to wrap up projects when needed. He is reliable, and our homeowners have significantly benefitted from his assistance.

Home Base Helper

Awarded to Forest Britt

The Home Base Helper Award is awarded to a single volunteer whose work at our own home, our office, was pivotal to the success of our operations.

Forest has been ready and willing to volunteer no matter the task. In 2023, he transitioned from a Handyman Club volunteer to an administrative project management volunteer, which brought him to a different side of our program. Forest was able to visit homes that we hadn’t seen yet and bring those documents and pictures back to the office. By visiting the homeowner in person, he could focus on the projects and connect with the homeowners. That insight and documentation are crucial to help the homeowner navigate the application process. Forest’s flexibility and willingness to help, no matter the task, directly reflect his personality and heart.

Founder’s Award

Awarded to Megan Finnern

The Founder’s Award is awarded to a person or entity whose contributions are pivotal and vital to the organization’s success.

Megan’s dedication to the mission of Rebuild Upstate over the past decade (yes – a full decade of service) has been unwavering. She has passionately stepped up whenever needed and even when it was uncomfortable or uncharted territory. Megan literally helped us become who we are today (serving on our Rebranding Committee to establish Rebuild Upstate as our name). She led our Board through the first CEO transition in our history. More than anything, Megan’s passion for the people we get to serve has been felt far and wide; she has directed that passion to use her time, talents, and resources to further our mission for decades to come. It is for that passion, dedication, and steadfastness that Megan has earned our 2024 Founder’s Award.

Foundational Supporter Hall of Fame

Awarded to LMG Architects

The Foundational Supporters award recognizes individuals who use their time, talents, voice, and/or resources in an “above and beyond” and multi-year effort to advance our mission. This is Rebuild Upstate’s Hall of Fame.

LMG Architects, owned by Lura & Mark Godfrey was the first small business to join our Porch Partner Community for monthly donors. Lura serves on the Rebuild Upstate board of directors and served five years on the Greenville Advisory Council. Lura has a long history of engaging those in her professional network to our mission, bringing connections to multiple fundraising events. In addition, Lura is an event volunteer where she helps our team manage and implement community events. She finds every opportunity to share our mission, and Rebuild Upstate is better for her involvement.

Home Repair Warriors

Home Repair Warriors bring our mission to life. These volunteers may serve in the office, on-site, or as an advocate in the community. Wherever they are, their personal contributions deeply impact the entire upstate community. Earned by volunteering 50+ hours, these volunteers made substantial time contributions in 2022.

300+ Hours

Stephan Hamel, 397 | Jesse Trout, 344

150 – 299 Hours

100 – 149 Hours

Chris Harpe, 125 | Stacy Sargent, 114 | Tom Forrestall, 114 | Karen Hamel, 102 | Betty Beaudoin, 100

50 – 99 Hours

Thank you for your commitment and service.