St. Petersburg, FL house is Valpak's seventh sponsored home
Habitat of Humanity of Pinellas County and Valpak® will dedicate a home for the Rucker family, Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 9 a.m., 2406 3rd Avenue South, St. Petersburg.
The newly built, five-bedroom home will give Veronica Rucker a fresh beginning, along with her teenage nieces and nephew, and her grand nephew. She took them in more than four years ago to help her family stay together after the death of her sister. The home can withstand winds up to 200 miles per hour and is an ENERGY STAR Certified Home.
"Habitat changes lives and also changes entire neighborhoods for the better," said Valpak President Joe Bourdow. "We have seen it happen repeatedly here in Pinellas County," he said. "This is a great cause we are happy to support and I am thrilled to see the volunteers turn out."
Valpak employees - some who had worked on Habitat homes previously and some newbies - dedicated Saturdays for two and half months to getting this house built. More than 40 Valpak employees worked on the home, giving almost twice as many hours as were required. This is the seventh Habitat house that Valpak has sponsored since 2001.
The family includes Veronica Rucker, along with her nephew, Leonard, 20; nieces Arieal, 18, Wednesday, 17, Carissa, 15; and grand nephew De'Angelo, 2.
"Valpak's commitment to making this community a better place to live, one house at a time, makes them one of our top five corporate sponsors," said Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County Executive Director Barbara Inman.
"In addition to sponsoring seven families, their employees grab hammers and sweat their hearts out in partnership with families working to build their dreams of homeownership," said Inman. "Those little blue Valpak envelopes have helped to make big changes in the lives of Pinellas County families," she said.
Valpak also provides every homeowner in Pinellas County its ''first piece of mail'' by presenting each Habitat homeowner with a Valpak envelope with a check for $100, which is a longstanding Valpak promotion.
Valpak is active in helping community organizations, such as United Way of Tampa Bay and Pinellas Education Foundation. The company, which was founded in Clearwater in 1968, also has an active Blue Crew employee volunteer committee, which focuses on community volunteerism, employee-led food and supply drives, and providing in-kind printing for dozens of local organizations.
