2008 Earth Day Build-A-Thon in review
The Earth Day Build-A-Thon weekend began on Friday, April 18th, with Habitat East Bay’s inaugural Executive Build. “It’s good to get out of a business suit once in a while!” said Janice Jensen, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity East Bay, as she welcomed over 35 top corporate leaders to the event.
Co-hosts Bill Morrow, President and CEO, Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Charles Broom, President, The PMI Foundation and Terry Kingsfather, President, Simpson Strong-Tie, invited their peers to join them for a morning of building. Attendees included top executives of Bank of America; Certified Forest Products; Dow Chemicals; Hardison Komatsu Ivelich & Tucker; The John Stewart Company; Lennar; Orco Supply; Pacific Gas & Electric; The PMI Foundation; Simpson Strong-Tie; Shames Construction Company; SunPower; Sunset Development Corporation.; Sybase; Timken, Johnson, Kwang LLP; Wachovia; Warmington Homes; and Wells Fargo. Lunch was generously donated by Rob Washington.
The Build-A-Thon continued Saturday, April 19th, through Tuesday, April 22nd, with the assistance of hundreds of community participants who generously contributed their time and effort not just to build homes, but also to raise pledges of financial support. By raising pledges, participants informed friends and family of Habitat’s work, thus growing Habitat's family of supporters. Over 250 community supporters participated in the building, many on multiple days, and raised funds from among $1,100 donors. Top pledge earners included Laura Goderez, Fred and Trish Reichert, Daniel Corrado, and Jennifer Hammer. Event sponsorship, provided by Pacific Gas & Electric, Wells Fargo, Sybase, Johnson & Johnson, and the East Bay Business Times, together with the funds raised by participants, totaled $125,000, exceeding the fundraising goal and providing enough funds to purchase all the framing lumber for the event.
On Saturday morning, homeowner Florencia Woodley shared her experiences partnering with Habitat to the audience of 125 participants. Inspired by her story, the participants resumed framing the first story, breaking to enjoy a spaghetti lunch provided by Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church and a toe-tapping, hand-clapping performance by singer-songwriter Miko Marks, New Music Weekly’s “Best New Artist of 2006.” By the end of the day, the first floors were framed and sheathed, and decking the first floor had begun.
Sunday brought another 125 participants to finish the first-floor decking and begin framing second floor walls. During lunch, a feast prepared and donated by the Habitat East Bay partner families in Contra Costa County, the audience bid on the opportunity to put pies in the faces of Habitat staff and volunteers. These good sports, well-known in the Habitat East Bay community, brought in top dollar, and the generous bidders contributed an additional $2,300 for the honors.
Also on Sunday, Habitat East Bay held a 20th Anniversary Community Celebration at the Edes Avenue development. Fenced away from the construction activity, families and children enjoyed Habitat-themed games, activities, and refreshments. Guests posed within a giant logo cutout for a photo, played ring toss and beanbag toss, guessed the number of nails in a jar, tested their math skills to determine lumber lengths, played Habitat bingo, toured the Wells Fargo financial literacy bus, learned about energy saving techniques provided by PG&E, and enjoyed cotton candy, popcorn, and other refreshments. The celebration was an opportunity for old supporters, new supporters, and interested neighbors to come together to celebrate Habitat East Bay’s 20 years of serving Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
On Monday, fueled by a delicious lunch of chicken and veggie ranchero provided by Isabelle Paez, 100 participants worked together to finish framing second floor walls, roll out roof trusses, nail off exterior sheathing, and install interior blocking. With a full morning of hammering practice behind them, contestants entered the lunchtime hammering contest to show off their muscles and technique. Winners were awarded complimentary subscriptions to 41 Pounds, a service that works to eliminate the 41 pounds of junk mail that each American receives by removing subscribers from unsolicited mailing lists. After the contest, builders went back to work, and by late afternoon, many of the construction goals of the event were complete.
An order of roof sheathing arrived on Tuesday morning, in time for the 100 participants in attendance to cut and install the sheathing across the roof trusses. Other participants continued nailing off sheathing and installing blocking below. To cool down from the fast-paced framing, participants enjoyed a spirited water balloon toss after enjoying a nourishing sandwich lunch provided by Lafayette Christian Church, Whole Foods Oakland, and Macaroni Grill. As the 2008 Build-A-Thon drew to a close, we found ourselves two weeks ahead of schedule.
Following the build day, participants led a wagon train to McGrath’s pub in Alameda for the after-party, to enjoy hearty burritos donated by Chipotle Grill, cold drinks, and the camaraderie that comes with building houses together. Party goers cheered at seeing coverage of the event broadcasted during the KTVU evening news.
While learning and practicing new skills, building friendships, and enjoying good-natured pranks and competitions, the community never lost site of the goal of building affordable homes for low-income families in an environmentally-sustainable way. While Habitat East Bay builds on an ongoing basis throughout the year, the Build-A-Thon is an opportunity to invite the community to join us in our fundraising efforts and to celebrate our commitment to green building.
All Habitat East Bay homes are built using environmentally-sustainable materials through every stage of construction. The foundations that stood bare at the beginning of the event are composed of 30% fly ash, a by-product of coal-fired power plants that is typically landfilled. Using fly ash to supplement cement decreases the amount of materials bound for landfills and lessens the destructive effects of mining while. The volunteer builders framed carefully to protect the concrete underfoot, which will later be stained as the finished flooring, eliminating the need to install additional flooring materials. During the framing frenzy, participants nailed the vertical studs to the bottom and top wall plates at 24-inch intervals, instead of the traditional 16-inch intervals. Framing in this way reduces the amount of lumber throughout the house by one third. Window headers, wall sheathing, and roof sheathing is made from recycled wood chips as well as from fast-growing trees grown for this purpose, protecting the destruction of old-growth forests.
The Earth Day focus on conservation branched out from the home construction methods to the event itself. The Solar Depot provided portable solar panels, at no cost, to power the chop saws as well as the PA system. Signage was printed on bioweave material, which uses 50% less raw materials and 80% less energy to create, and does not contain the formaldehyde or other carcinogenic materials used in traditional vinyl signs. Meals were served on compostable plates and utensils. Participants were each given a Habitat East Bay water bottle upon arrival, which they refilled throughout the day from jugs of tap water, reducing waste from disposable plastic bottles. At the end of the five-day event, after over 100 people came together on each day, six beautiful new houses and a single bag of garbage stood as evidence of the tremendous events that had transpired.
Homeowner Florencia Woodley, who attended each day of the Build-A-Thon, shared “I’m just overwhelmed by all these people. I see all these people and it’s – it’s great. Habitat offers a community and that’s what you guys are - a community to us. So thank you so much for being out here to help us build our home.”
View photos of the event: Friday - Saturday - Sunday - Monday - Tuesday
