From Risk to Asset: Retired Business Owner Helps Make Homes Sanctuaries

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Steve Wiener. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Retired business owner Steve Wiener likes to work with his hands. During three decades as a wholesale distributor, the time he spent figuring out how to fix things around the house helped get his mind off of work. So, when he was trying to fill the 60- to 70-hour work weeks he retired from, he was intrigued by Rebuilding Together Long Island, a chapter of a national nonprofit that repairs homes for income-qualified seniors, veterans and people with physical challenges.

Steve is the Suffolk County team leader, coordinating and overseeing repairs with a 15-member crew. Volunteers make critical repairs and modifications—like building wheelchair ramps, for example—to ensure the safety and accessibility of clients’ homes, at no cost.

Steve finds satisfaction in checking items off his list—replacing a toilet, fixing a rotted window, rewiring and more. He spends 24 to 30 hours a week working on roughly 60 homes each year. Sometimes it’s as simple as washing a lamp globe that has 20 years of dirt built up or changing a lightbulb a homeowner can’t access. Other times, it’s rebuilding a broken cabinet.

Between four grandkids, a dog and his self-proclaimed handyman hobby, Steve stays busy. The best part? He loves it. And his neighbors, no matter which part of Long Island they inhabit, are safer because of it.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

When my two kids were young, I coached Little League and was treasurer for a number of years. And through my temple, at times, we would volunteer. But mostly, I worked. When I sold my business and eventually retired, I was looking for something else to keep me busy and out of my wife’s hair. I’d heard about Rebuilding Together Long Island and signed up. I started working one day a week doing different jobs. Then, it went to two days a week. Then, around the pandemic, the person who was coordinating Suffolk County left, and I, by default, took over.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Rebuilding Together Long Island.

A lot of clients are referred to us via Suffolk County for the Aging, the Veterans Administration and churches. If they qualify, a home visitor creates a report that comes to me with information about the client, the house and what they need done. Ultimately, I visit the client to test outlets, run water and look for leaks and other things. I make a list and tell them what we can and can’t do. We have a lot of guys with skills, but we’re not contractors.

Next, I email my volunteers a plan and see who’s going to be available. In the meantime, I make my shopping list. Part of my shopping happens in my garage. I have a lot of stuff. The rest I pick up.

I contact the client about when we’re going to be coming, and then we all meet up to do our physical work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I general contract the job. I do less myself than I used to, because I have a bad back, but I go around and help. When I go home, I write it up and enter it into the computer system. I write up the volunteer hours for each person. Then, I gear them up for the next job. Rinse and repeat.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?.

Our last client was beside herself that we did all these things. Some items weren’t even on her list, but I saw things that needed to be done. What makes it rewarding is knowing that you’re making their lives better. She had a leak under the kitchen sink. Before we put in a new faucet, she had the water turned off and washed pans in the bathroom.

When something breaks and people don’t have the skill to fix it, or money to have it fixed, it stays broken. One thing after another breaks, and it becomes insurmountable. Then, they get referred to us or they find us, and we fix things that have been broken, some for years.

Some people have family or people who help them, and some don’t. Many are alone. Some people have a very hard life. We get nice letters now and then from people thanking us. I send scans of them to my whole crew, because it’s uplifting. It’s very fulfilling helping our neighbors.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve been doing this for almost nine years. I knew stuff to begin with, but I’ve learned a lot more. We teach as we go along, too, because why not? It helps volunteers contribute in more ways when we go to a house. One guy who had never installed the dishwasher in his life is now my dishwasher guy. Everybody has a specialty.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

The term Tikkun Olam means, “Repair the world.” Each one of us has an individual obligation to do so. I have something in my cell phone case that says, “The futurist had taped to the wall, ‘What is my job on this planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won’t happen unless I take responsibility for it?’” That’s volunteering.

I ran a pretty substantial business with many employees and customers and 26,000 items in my warehouse. I can do this. Plus, we have a great time.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

It’s our responsibility to help those who need it. I’m lucky. My wife and I are comfortable and in decent health. My sons’ health is good. They’re both successful in their careers with wives and children we’re crazy about. Life has been good to me, but it’s not good to everybody. Some people are having a hard time. If I had made a different turn somewhere along the line, who knows? I think that’s the lesson.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Steve? Find local volunteer opportunities.