I am the very proud recipient of the 2010 Volunteer Spirit Award! I was nominated by Habitat For Humanity and the award was given in the category of the Environment. I do the landscape designs for all of the new Sacramento Habitat Homes - Pro Bono. This is very rewarding work. The homes that we have built this year have all been LEED certified (Leadership in Environment and Energy Design). Our house have made Gold and the last two, Platinum - the highest level. The landscapes are all no-lawn and drought tolerant. Our ‘charette’ or group that designs and builds these homes just won the National Green Building award. We are very proud.
I strongly urge folks to go to the Sacramento Habitat for Humanities website and find out when their tours are (generally once a week). You will learn about what the families need to do to qualify, you’ll learn about the families that have been chosen for the Homes - there stories are amazing and moving. You’ll also get a tour of the Habitat Re-Store - a great resource for finding building materials and other odds and ends cheap!
Also, a word about VolunteerCenter of Sacramento: they have many programs that allow people to get involved in our community be it with animals, our parks, food banks or even assisting in giving birthday parties to children that live in shelters and have never had the opportunity to have a party. You can find them online at info@volunteersac.org or call: (916) 567-3100
Regarding energy efficient homes: Did you know that SMUD was given a Federal grant of several millions dollars to give in rebates for Homeowners to retrofit their homes to make them more efficient? The call the program the Home Performance Program and you can qualify for up to $5,000.00 in Rebates. You start with selecting a contractor. There is a list of approved contractors on SMUD’s website:www.smud.org/rebates or call them at 1-888-742-7683 ext. 18.
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