Behrend Builders is MCCCS's award-winning volunteer program that works to repair, renovate, and rebuild Washington, DC. We work throughout the city to resuscitate homeless shelters, public and charter schools, homes for low-income families and elderly residents, recreational and community centers, social service agencies, and other vital community spaces and facilities.

Our goal is to provide area volunteers with opportunities that meet the critical needs of Washington's low-income housing communities and to supplement the over-extended social service agencies and government programs of our city. 

No skills or previous experience are necessary, as training is given on-site and experienced Behrend Builders staff members and program managers oversee all projects. We welcome families and volunteers of all ages. If you have any questions, please contact us.  

A History of Behrend Builders:

Founded over 15 years ago by Ruth Small and Amy Goldstein, Behrend Builders is the longest-running program of its kind in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. We operate throughout the year, providing one-day or longer-term projects for volunteers and groups of varying skill levels. Our volunteers come from local schools and universities, Washington DCJCC's outreach efforts and local businesses and community organizations. We make every effort to have our volunteers work side-by-side with the recipients of their work, ensuring the creation of community and the building of bridges across the racial and socioeconomic divides that are so prevalent in DC.

Upcoming Behrend Opportunities:

To find out about Behrend Builders and MCCCS volunteer opportunities, please subscribe to the Volunteer View, check the JCC's event calendar or contact Danny Obeler, the Behrend Builders Program Coordinator by email or at (202) 777-3245.

Recent Behrend Builder Projects:  See pictures from our most recent service projects on our Shutterfly Page    

 January 16, 2012: Returning to CCNV for MLK Day of Service 2012, Behrend Builders and volunteers coming from near and far honored the vision of Martin Luther King Jr. by continuing our painting and beautification work at the shelter while also promoting fire prevention and safety with CCNV residents.  Behrend Builders was supported by HOPE worldwide  and joined in service by volunteers from Corporation for National Community Service, AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, and International Honors Program among others. 

December 25, 2011: Behrend Builders continued rocking the 25th anniversary of  December 25 Day of Service at Community for Creative Non-Violence.  Over 150 volunteers, friends, and families brightened up CCNV by repainting main walkways and spreading holiday cheer at the largest homeless shelter in the Washington, DC area and one of the largest homeless shelters in the country.     

December 25, 2011: Working with Behrend Builders on this December 25 Day of Service, the DCJCC's GLOE group of LGBT Jews and friends served the community at Mary's Center! Mary’s Center provides health care, family literacy and social services to 24,000 individuals whose needs too often go unmet by the public and private systems. GLOE's painting skills made the reception areas and mental health group room fresh, colorful, and welcoming!   

October 25, 2011:  TERRIFIC Inc. is an action oriented housing and human services organization whose primary goal is to respond to families in crises, by identifying and developing resources to meet those needs and future crises.  As part of the  AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps' ongoing monthly salon series, 24 corps members volunteered with Behrend Builder to paint the hallways and stairwells of family, senior, and veteran housing.  Following the Behrend program and continuing with homelessness and housing education, corps members returned to the DCJCC for dinner, small group discussion, and text study.

October 23, 2011: Behrend Builder volunteers painted the exterior and entry way of  The Family Place, an organization that provides programs that help meet emergency needs; provide education and training; and offer access to information and other social services, with the mission of empowering low-income families to foster the optimal development of their children.

July 11-15, 2011: Camp Service this year was a great time for everyone involved. We had 12 wonderful students who spent a week making DC a better place. We partnered with  So Others May Eat,  Street Sense,  Art Enables,  DC Central Kitchen,  Kayam Farm, and  Adas Senior Group for a wonderful week of service-learning activities.

June 13-30, 2011: Camp Yad b'Yad was a great success! We had 29 students over three weeks and were able to work with the following organizations to better our community:  Metro TeenAIDS,  So Others May Eat,  Street Sense, Coalition for the Homeless,  Art Enables, Kayam Farm,  Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens,  A Wider Circle, and  Adas Senior Group.

June 6, 2011: Behrend Builders returned to Camille's Place, this time with our partners at Sidwell Friends School, for another great day of learning and service work. We rebuilt the back patio and garden area to make it more accessible to the women living in the transitional home, painted bedrooms, cleaned, and patched holes in the drywall.

 May 26, 2011: Behrend Builders had the chance to team up with the current AVODAH D.C. fellows to do some painting work at Camille's Pace in SE D.C. We brightened up the dining room and shared information about housing and homelessness issues in the District. It was a productive and educational afternoon for everyone involved!

May 15, 2011: Unity Health Care got a visit from Behrend Builders and Adas Israel's USY youth program to continue a project started during D25. We painted some exam rooms, the administrative office, and did a bunch of needed touch up for this free medical clinic in NW D.C.

April 29, 2011: Behrend Builders donated and dropped off over 800 units of toiletries to an organization in the District that offered to drive them down en masse to the victims of recent flooding and tornados in Birmingham, Alabama.      

April 10, 2011: Spring into Action was a great success! This year we worked with five community organizations throughout the greater DC area; we spruced up urban and school gardens, national parks, and sustainable farms for this annual day of environmentally-minded service.   

April 3, 2011: Behrend Builders organized a joint project with Sidwell Friends and the Farm to Desk project at EW Stokes Elementary School in NE. We spent a great day rehabilitating the school garden so that teachers can use the garden to teach ecology and the school chef can include local veggies in the healthy school lunches. 

March 20, 2011: Volunteers from throughout the community joined with Behrend Builders in this Open Build to repaint the entryway at Spingarn Stay High School. 

March 18, 2011: Ithaca College students and Behrend Builders teamed up with the staff of Neighborhood Farm Initiative and the National Park Service to build a base for a shed. The shed will benefit all the community members who use the garden by providing a safe and convenient space to store tools. 

February 21, 2011: Behrend Builders teamed up with a youth group from a visiting New York Synaguoge to continue the interior painting and wall-patching work needed at  Refuge of Hope.

February 15, 2011: The Maret School and staff came out to support our ongoing work at Refuge of Hope in NE D.C. by helping us paint the living room, common space, offices, and classrooms on their Day of Service.

February 1-4, 2011: Behrend Builders had 3 great high school students interns with us for the week who wanted to get some hands-on experience doing community service work. We all went to Janice's house where we continued painting bedrooms, bathrooms, and sanded/refinished all the floors.

January 17, 2011: In commemoration of the work and vision of  Martin Luther King Jr., Behrend Builders lead a group of over 250 volunteers in a painting project to beautify and refurbish the inside of Spingarn STAY High School in NE D.C.    

December 24, 2010: As part of MCCCS' annnual December 24th Day of Service, Behrend Builders and 50 community volunteers repainted the hallways and some of the examination rooms at Unity Health Care, a non-profit health clinic in Northwest that treats patients regardless of ability to pay and intentionally targets the local homeless community. 

December 16, 2010: In partnership with the US Dream Academy, MCCCS and Behrend Builders set up a Holiday Store and giving experience for low-income children. Over 30 students of all ages were able to come and select, "purchase," and wrap gifts for their family members in a beautiful holiday-themed winter wonderland. 

December 10, 2010: Over 20 students from Holton Arms School came to help set up a Holiday Store and winter wonderland project for low-income students at the US Dream Academy. Tasks included paper macheing 8 ft. tall candy canes, painting wooden Santa cutouts and prepping gift wrapping tables.

November 28, 2010: Behrend hosted a local BBYO group at Janice's home where we finished repainting hallways, bedrooms, and common spaces. Without a new paint job, Janice and her five children wouldn't have been able to move back into their home before the Holidays. The city stripped Janice's home of lead-based paint a few months ago and the treated walls were in need of a fresh coat seal.

November 14, 2010: 10 volunteers from the Howard University Prelaw Undergraduate group joined Behrend Builders to begin work on Janice's home, painting bedrooms, hallways and communal spaces. See above.

October 17, 2010: Behrend Builders was joined by 20 volunteers, including a service group from Howard University, at an Open Build for Shirley's home. Shirley is suffering from Alzheimers and needed emergency home repairs completed so she could apply for a reverse mortgage and keep the home that has been in her possession for nearly 50 years.

 October 12, 2010: 30 Sidwell Friends School students chose to work with Behrend Builders for their Day of Service this year. Our group went to New Expectations, a shelter for women with infant children, to repaint and refurbish bedrooms, remove mold and dust from child-accessible areas and refurbish/repair the dining room.

 October 10, 2010: Behrend Builders returned to David's home with a group of 12 volunteers from the Tzedek Hillel group at the University of Maryland. David, who is moving into his new home shortly with his five children, much appreciates the repairs to his wiring, closets, windows and the new coat of paint on all the walls of the house.

September 7, 2010:  Holton Arms School returned to Behrend Builders with a group of 80 student volunteers to help repaint and refurbish the walls, classrooms, murals and outside recereational areas at Ferebee Hope School.