Chloe Bernardi

Rebuilding Together Montgomery County (RTMC) opened its doors in 1990 and, over the past 33 years, has worked to provide free critical home repairs, energy efficiency upgrades and accessibility modifications for Montgomery County’s most vulnerable residents – seniors, veterans, persons with disabilities and families with children, all living in low-income households. Demographically, our clients come from diverse backgrounds and represent the elderly, disabled, and working poor populations of Montgomery County. The average annual income of our recipient families is $21,779, an income level that is never enough to cover all of life’s expenses. For almost all of them, once food, transportation, and medical care is covered (assuming they are able to cover all of those expenses), there is not enough left over for home maintenance or repair. For them, catastrophic home repair costs would mean not only the mental anguish of losing their home, but also the real possibility of having no place else to turn for shelter. RTMC works in partnership with state and local governments, community volunteers, and corporate and nonprofit partners to provide our client families with the repairs and upgrades they need to remain safely and securely in their homes. The repairs and links to community resources we offer not only prevent homelessness for our clients, but also preserve affordable housing in an area where it is scarce and provide safe and independent living for our county's most vulnerable residents.