This year's Rebuilding Together work day will provide a helping hand for eight homeowners in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

On April 25, between 125 and 150 volunteers will come together to do whatever is needed to help provide residents with a safer, more homey place to live.

Anita Quaglia of Rebuilding Together said the program, formerly known as Christmas in April, has helped more than 100 homeowners in the Bismarck-Mandan area since it began in 1997.

Quaglia said it was patterned after a national program started in 1974 that provides home repair and other services to the elderly and persons with disabilities or those who could not afford to do the work themselves.

This year, eight homes in the cities are on the list.

Each home is sponsored by an area business, Janice Richter said.

The volunteers, which have numbered as many as 400 in past years, do a variety of work in the homes from painting or plumbing, building decks or installing carpeting, constructing ramps or landscaping.

"You name it, our volunteers have done it," Richter said.

This year, she said that the program has enough volunteers to handle the work, but added that the number of people needed each year varies depending on the scope of the work to be done.

Richter said the group works closely with churches in the two communities, along with numerous social agencies.

She said the elderly or those with disabilities can qualify for assistance, as can those who meet income requirements.

For information on the Rebuilding Together program, call 221-3232.

(Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or brian.gehring@;bismarcktribune.com.)