The whole work is only a drop in the ocean. But if I didn't put the drop in, the ocean would be one drop less.
-Mother Teresa
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

- Mahatma Gandhi,
  Indian Political Leader

 

 

 

 

Index to Page:
News about The Volunteer Efforts of - and Opportunities for - Maine Section Members

The purpose of this page is to inform the membership about volunteer opportunities, and the volunteer efforts
of our Section Membership.  Please submit information to the Section on your efforts, or on a volunteer
opportunity that the Section membership can participate in.  Send me info!

ASCE, including the Maine Section, strives to enhance the recognition of civil engineering as a highly
respected, desirable, and rewarding career and the quality of life that we play an essential role in.
Volunteer community service and public outreach activities are outstanding ways to improve our image
as civil engineers and the Maine Section encourages all of it members to volunteer when and where they
can and to organizations of their choosing.
The Maine Section Public Relations Committee will continue to seek out volunteer opportunities for our
members.  In addition to the Habitat for Humanity (HFH), the Maine Section has events planned for
2007-08 including  Engineers Week 2008, Rebuilding Together, the Maine Handicap Ski-a-Thon,
and the A/E Charity Golf Tournament. The Maine Section would like to hear about your efforts, ideas,
and ways we can assist you.  Please contact Erik Wiberg with anything you would like to share.
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Rebuilding Day 2008 was Saturday, May 3, 2008   Click for PDF

Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland's mission is to preserve and revitalize homes in the Greater Portland
community, assuring that low-income homeowners, from the elderly and disabled to families with children, live
in warmth, safety, and independence. In partnership with local corporations and communities, our goal is to
make a sustainable impact.

Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland is a volunteer non-profit organization that performs maintenance and rehabilitation work - free of charge - for elderly, disabled and low-income people. Formerly called "Christmas in April," the Greater Portland Organization is local chapter of a National Organization with more than 260 chapters nationwide who provide their services during a one-day blitz in the spring.

In the past ten years, our local organization has worked on over 100 homes in Greater Portland, performing work valued at more than $500,000. Led by skilled professionals who volunteer their time, teams of volunteers fan out across Greater Portland on the appointed day (usually the last Saturday of April or first Saturday of May) improving people's lives by making their homes more habitable. Last year, for instance, over 100 volunteers spent an estimated 1,000 hours of free work repairing 10 homes in the Greater Portland Area for elderly, disabled or low-income homeowners.

Through corporate sponsorships and other donations, Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland procures the appropriate materials to complete the work. The teams begin the work early in the day, striving to complete their project by sundown.

Rebuilding Together teams provide all kinds of assistance, from replacing roofs and windows to repairing porches and steps. In addition, the organization helps build wheelchair ramps and helps to install items such as grab bars in bathrooms which can help make a home more safe for an elderly or disabled person. Rebuilding Together focuses its efforts on elderly, disabled and low-income people who own their own homes. That makes this program unique in that there are many programs which help people to achieve home ownership but few which provide assistance to maintain or fix a home. While many of these people have achieved the American dream of owning their own home, they get overwhelmed both financially and psychologically by the demands of maintaining it.

Homeowners are carefully selected through an application process which includes income thresholds and a home inspection.

If you are interested in helping Rebuilding Together*Greater Portland, either through a donation of money or materials or by volunteering, call us at 791-3529 or send an email to rebuild@maine.rr.com    http://www.rtportland.org/

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ASCE Call for Volunteers

Maine Section ASCE to Aid Habitat for Humanity Home Building Projects on October 27, 2007
The Maine Section ASCE is joining forces with the Greater Bangor and Greater Portland affiliates of Habitat for Humanity (HFH) to aid in the construction of two homes on Saturday, October 27, 2007.  The Greater Bangor project is located off of Roosevelt Avenue in Brewer and the Greater Portland project will be in either Portland or Yarmouth. If you can pound a nail or paint a wall, then consider yourself qualified!  Contact Erik Wiberg, Maine Section Public Relations Committee Chair, at R.W. Gillespie & Associates, Inc. (207-286-8008 or ewiberg@rwg-a.com) to register for either of these projects.

Why volunteer? This is your opportunity to volunteer in a worthy project near you to do what civil engineers do best at a fundamental level: civil engineering is about community service, development, and the conception, planning, design, and construction infrastructure essential to modern life. On a personal level, volunteering will  boost your confidence, help you learn a new skill, introduce you to new friends, create fun in your life, and re-energize you with a heightened sense of well-being.

Why Habitat for Humanity? First, HFH relies on voluntary efforts to construct affordable homes for families in need and the result is an enhanced community. Second, as available land dwindles, HFH is finding out that potential home sites more frequently pose challenges requiring the support of civil engineers and planners. The Maine Section reached out to HFH to explore ways the Section can aid HFH through volunteer opportunities and develop contacts within the civil engineering community who might be interested in offering professional assistance. You will not be solicited for professional services; however, this event is an opportunity to learn first hand about HFH and then consider further involvement, either as a layperson volunteer or on a professional services level.
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HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OPPORTUNITIES  
Tim Merritt, P.E.
President, Maine Section ASCE

In the May 2007 Informant, we had a short article on volunteer opportunities with Habitat for Humanity (HFH). 
Since then, there have been additional conversations with that organization and some of their leaders.  The Maine Section board met with Mr. Steve Bolton of Greater Portland HFH and Mr. Vinal Applebee of Greater Bangor HFH set up an information table at our May meeting in Brewer. 

We mentioned in the May Informant that there were 3 basic ways for Section members to assist HFH, being: 

  1. Volunteer for one of their many house building opportunities around the state at regularly scheduled times  throughout the year.  HFH has 10 affiliates around the state, so making this commitment should involve little travel for most members.  To maximize participation, we may consider having simultaneous volunteer  events at several locations around the state in the fall. 

  2. HFH has many fundraising events throughout the year.  The Section could participate in one of these events or hold our own.  HFH also accepts land donations through their land initiative.  They also accept donations of surplus new and used building materials for use in their projects and they even sell some of these items in their “ReStore” to fund their general projects.

  3. One of HFH’s biggest needs is for professional services that would assist them in getting their projects through site design, environmental permitting, municipal permitting, access design, etc.  Good, buildable land is hard to come by now a days and most lots present unique challenges.  HFH has also taken on a subdivision approach, as individual lots become more scarce and land prices have escalated.  In reviewing some of the HFH material, I noticed one glaringly obvious concern.  Other industries such as contractors, material suppliers, developers, and realtors are well represented as major volunteers, but civil engineers are noticeably absent in this effort (kudos to those few individuals that are involved).

We hope to dedicate at least a portion of one of our regular fall monthly meetings to a summary of local HFH efforts here in Maine and a presentation from Ms. Ellen O’Brien of Northstar Hydro who has recently volunteered with HFH in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  Stay tuned for more details and think about how you can help the cause.  It will make you a better person and help you appreciate what you have!!

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Rebuilding Portland April 2007

Maine Section ASCE Rehabilitates Home For Disadvantaged
20 Engineers Put Their Hands to Work To Help a Needy Family.

20 civil engineers and their friends, representing the Maine Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Neill and Gunter Consulting Engineers (NGI), and Matthew O’Connor (student from UMaine chapter) came together for one day of intense home repair on April 28th to assist a disadvantaged family in need.  This community service project was part of the national Rebuilding Together effort that took place across the country on the same day.  In the Greater Portland area, a total of nine houses were rehabilitated under this program for low-income, disabled, or otherwise disadvantaged families and senior citizens.

The volunteers spent the entire day repairing a house in Scarborough that was over 100 years old and in great need of basic maintenance.  Utilizing approximately $2,000 in building materials and tools brought by the volunteers, the group focused on repair items that had a direct impact on the family’s safety, protection from nature’s elements, updated plumbing, and heating costs.  Small teams worked together on a variety of tasks including leaky roof repair, insulating the attic, fixing a collapsing toilet & bathroom flooring, replacing the front steps, replacing portions of rotted clapboard siding, replacing the front door threshold, building an insulated basement bulkhead door, re-connecting heating duct work, underpinning a rotten bedroom floor, caulking windows & doors, and repairing a leaking gutter system.  I estimate that on the order of $4,000 of free labor was contributed by the volunteers on the work day alone.

Civil engineers design new infrastructure every day.  Volunteering for Rebuilding Together has given us a whole new appreciation for the most basic infrastructure- one’s home.  Some unfortunate families don’t even have working septic systems, affordable means to heat their home, or basic shelter from the elements.  This project illustrates how civil engineers can make a difference at the most basic level right in their community.  I think the home owners in the group walked away with a new appreciation for what they have and the people not experienced at all in home repair gained valuable experience that they will put to use in buying and maintaining their own home someday.  Not unlike our engineering endeavors, it is amazing to watch a group of experienced and in-experienced workers come together to accomplish major feats.   I walked away with the sense that I need to start asking for help from my friends when remodeling my house, there is definitely power in numbers!

The volunteers got together after the work day at a nearby restaurant for some munchies and beverages with the entire Rebuilding Together crews from all 9 house projects.  It was interesting to hear some of the other reports on the other houses and talk with some of the project organizers.  Next year, the Maine Section ASCE will play a larger role in this event, as we plan to be involved in the organizing, fundraising, and have our own house project for which we will donate material and labor.  Special thanks to the toilet crew (Clayton Hoak & Chris Parks), the attic crew (NGI and others), Jonathan Schlager (the professional that assisted Peter Merfeld with the fine front steps), and the Younger Member Group for sponsoring the event.

For more information on Rebuilding Together visit www.rebuildingtogether.org .   

 Click here for a new window with more pictures of the project

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The Virtues of Volunteer Community Service
 Tim Merritt, Public Relations Committee Chair
April 2007

Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, once said: “It is a great profession.  There is the satisfaction of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper.  Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy ... it elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life.  That is the engineer’s high privilege … To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope.”

I would ask, does the general public hold our profession in this high regard?  Is the general public aware enough of our profession to make a judgment?  I think most of would answer no.  ASCE strives to enhance the recognition of civil engineering as a highly respected, desirable, and rewarding career and the quality of life that we play an essential role in.  Volunteer community service and public outreach activities are outstanding ways to improve our image.

In addition to improving our image, volunteer service provides an opportunity to:
·        Give back and make a difference in the community,
·        Increase the public’s awareness and appreciation of our profession’s contribution to society,
·        Develop leadership and professional skills,
·        Grow as engineers and human beings,
·        Interface with other professional groups,
·        Socialize within our membership,
·        Re-energize yourself,
·        See the big picture and better understand our end-users,
·        Attract and retain talented individuals to the profession,
·        Meet and develop potential business clients, and
·        Encourage our members to participate as leaders in society.

This year, the Maine Section began to organize its public relations efforts as a whole with the formation of the Public Relations Committee.  This committee has generated a widespread list of potential community service and public outreach projects for the Section and individuals to participate in.  Please see www.maineasce.org for our listing of ideas.  Scheduled events include:

Many of us are regular volunteers in some capacity as individuals.  The Maine Section would like to hear about your efforts, ideas, and ways we can assist.  Please contact me at president@maineasce.org with anything you would like to share.  ASCE recognizes its members for significant efforts in volunteerism and community service.  Our very own Phil Dunn recently won the ASCE Citizenship Award for his efforts!

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Updated 10/23/2008  -  Visited Hit Counter times since 07/02/2007