Freddie Mac's Making a Community (MAC) Week

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Freddie Mac's President Gene McQuade discusses the project with a community member as he surveys the results of Freddie Mac's volunteer efforts Freddie Mac employees helped restore Marvin Gaye Park by cleaning it up as well as building an obstacle course and amphitheater

More than 1,000 Freddie Mac employees helped dedicate a new Marvin Gaye Amphitheater and Habitat for Humanity homes following a weeklong volunteer effort to help transform a Northeast DC neighborhood during the company's Making a Community (MAC) Week from October 16-20.

Joining with two local nonprofits – DC Habitat for Humanity and Washington Parks & People – employees framed four new homes and constructed a dozen tool sheds for existing homeowners in a long-neglected Ward 7 neighborhood in Northeast DC. The employee volunteer team also constructed an amphitheater and a children's obstacle training course in the adjoining Marvin Gaye Park in an effort to help bring back music and learning to the community.

MAC Week is part of a larger, continuing effort to help restore one of the DC area's most neglected and underserved communities into a livable, healthy community that celebrates the area's rich heritage while providing new opportunities for growth, learning and artistic expression. The volunteer contributions of Freddie Mac employees coupled with Freddie Mac's $325,000 contribution as well as a Freddie Mac Foundation $40,000 grant will help advance DC Habitat for Humanity's extensive redevelopment work that began in the area over five years ago as well as Washington Parks & People's efforts to strengthen the community by integrating this park back into it.