So here at OneStaff, we have a little employee-ran subcommittee that affords us the time to help and give back to our community. It’s called Rise & Kind (by OneStaff Medical) and its inception speaks volumes about what we’ve created here with our company, and our people. Not only is it a genius way to keep employees engaged by sometimes serving a higher purpose, but it’s something that helps us as a (work) family, make a larger impact on our community beyond just the business aspect. Ask our employees, and they will tell you it’s the little things like this that make us proud of who we are and what we continue to build.
About Project Houseworks
Project Houseworks has 5 different divisions to help provide the senior citizens of Omaha the assistance they need to maintain their home.
Their home repair program provides free critical home repairs, “we help give homeowners their ability to stay in their homes and “age in place” in safe, healthy environments. They provide roof replacements, toilet and plumbing repairs and fixes for gas leaks and other serious problems within a home that need urgent attention.
Their home modification program focuses on enhancing the independence and ease of mobility of citizens with disabilities to help them remain in their homes safely. This program is known to prevent unnecessary institutionalization by offering these free modifications to their homes.
Project Housework’s Warm the Metro division is an annual program they offer in the fall and partner with the Heating and Cooling Contractors Association (HACCA). Members of this association volunteer to provide maintenance checks and free repairs for the homeowners enrolled in Project Houseworks.
Powering Hope is a program that connects project houseworks’ homeowners with licensed electricians. The electricians volunteer to safeguard their clients from electrical hazards. This program is offered two times a year and is partnered with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW Local22) to offer this service.
Finally, that brings us to another division called Brush Up, which is a community based volunteer event to paint the homes of low-income seniors in Douglas and Sarpy counties.
Our Experience
This August, we had 21 OSM people volunteer to paint the home of a local omaha resident with Brush Up by Project Houseworks. We were assigned a 1.5 story house that belonged to an incredibly lovely woman from New Orleans, Louisiana. She couldn’t have been more excited to give her home a much needed facelift and was incredibly grateful for all of the help. In addition to painting her home, our team cleaned her gutters, pulled weeds, and trimmed/shaped some of her bushes and hedges. It was a hot day, but it was oh so rewarding to provide this kind of assistance to an Omaha resident who needed it. We managed to get the entire home painted in 5 hours.
Volunteer Afterthoughts
“It felt amazing to step away for a bit and give back to our community! It’s a rewarding feeling to be able to help out an Omaha resident that really deserved a little help! Very happy that we were able to spend the day out there making a difference!” - Taylor Cieslik
“Overall it was a hot and exhausting day, but putting in the hard work together as a team for a very deserving individual was more than worth it. We are thankful to have had this opportunity to volunteer with Brush Up for the first time.” - Holly Carter
“Despite all the challenges, it was a fun, team building experience; that left a great homeowner “over the moon” from our help! Would definitely help with Brush Up again and the other great causes from Project Houseworks.” - Sean Purcell
"Brush up was such a fantastic and rewarding opportunity. Everything we needed was set up and ready for us to get started once we arrived. The best part was seeing the homeowner so thankful and overjoyed at her freshly painted home!" - Brittany Hauschild
"It was such a great opportunity to get in the community and help such a gracious woman. It was a lot of fun and Brush up did a great job providing everything we need." - Kennedy Lundberg
"It was a great opportunity to get outside and make a difference. The homeowner was so sweet and appreciative! It felt great to not only see the physical difference to the house, but also how much the act meant to someone else." - Shannon O'Connell
More About Rise & Kind by OneStaff...
OUR MISSION: As a close-knit company, our mission is to passionately create community engagement by supporting volunteer activities that enhance and serve the communities in which we live, work (smarter) and play (harder). To support communities that are impacted by disasters, and address issues that impact quality of life. At the same time, we recognize that participating in these activities will also enrich and inspire the lives of our employees. We strive to help pay it forward, as a united OneStaff Family, through our own internal culture, and foster that for the greater good of this world we share.
Volunteer time off (VTO): Employees can receive their regular pay while donating up to 24 hours (3 days) each year. Employees can volunteer for a full work day or for a few hours at a time. We feel incredibly fortunate to offer our OSM staff VTO (Volunteer Hours) to give back to the community all together.
Our company’s owner mantras of “It costs nothing to be kind.” & “We rise by lifting others.” has never been more true.