On July 12th, an early Saturday morning, a few Protiviti Employees helped out Yellow Boots, a non-profit organization, rebuild a home destroyed by hurricane Sandy in Staten Island. YellowBoots Rebuilding Program reconstructs homes for senior citizens, people with disabilities, and families with children who cannot afford to have their homes rebuilt by contractors. For clients who can afford supplies, YellowBoots Project provides supervised volunteer labor, while for clients who cannot afford the materials, YellowBoots secures donations of rebuild material and supplies, and provides the labor as well. A typical rebuild project takes approximately 6-12 weeks of volunteer labor, using approximately $30,000 worth of building supplies.
Volunteers play a vital role in the Rebuilding Program: every day, between 25 and 100 volunteers are out in the field, working on clients’ homes. Volunteers not only help in the rebuilding, but they also provide our homeowners with support and encouragement during the emotional rebuilding process.
Farid Abdelkader, a Senior Manager in our New York office, was born in Brooklyn and moved to Bay Terrace, Staten Island when he was 3. Bay Terrace was not badly affected by the storm, and Farid didn’t believe the damage until he saw his grandmother’s house in Midland Beach, which had been swept away by the storm. It was after seeing her house that Farid realized how many others could use help, as they were in a similar scenario after the storm. Farid was driven to do something more, thanks to his passion for home rebuilding projects and his background with volunteering. He asked a couple of friends from Staten Island to help with his initiative to deliver disaster relief to locals and neighbors in need, and shortly after, YellowBoots was born.
If you would like to help with YellowBoots, please reach out to Farid Abdelkader. Thank you!
