The city of Pontiac will be alive with the sound of swinging hammers, buzzsaws, and chainsaws this week.
The Habitat of Humanity of Oakland County is kicking off the latest round of Rock the Block on Tuesday, July 25.
Instead of building a home from scratch, the focus for the upcoming building blitz is to help a wider range of people in a shorter period. Instead of building new the goal will be to repair and clean a neighborhood in Pontiac that was targeted by the nonprofit.
The two-day Rock the Block event will have more than 100 volunteers each day targeting 12 key projects in the community including home repairs, weatherization projects, and yard/house cleaning.
“We really want to do our part to help our neighbors,” said Stephanie Osterland, the Director of Family and Community Relations. “We could build a new house here, or there, but it’s really nice to do this work to help the neighbors in that area.”
This month the automotive supplier Inteva is working with Habitat for Humanity to provide the volunteers — the latest group to help the growing Rock the Block program.
In 2016, 26 projects were completed between Pontiac and Southfield. They’re still planning one final event in Southfield in the Bonnie Acres neighborhood. If you’re interested in applying for help of some sort, you can apply through the group’s website: www.habitatoakland.org.
“A lot of seniors we work with say some the landscaping and home repairs are just overwhelming to think about,” said Osterland. “To get this stuff done it’s pretty amazing to them.”
