The Great Poway Book Drive
 On a brilliant blue sky Saturday morning in October, CHW, with the help of our four Learning Center Community Building Coordinators, hosted its first Book Drive to encourage the local community to donate books to build the learning libraries at our Poway properties. San Diego National Bank, now part of US Bank, generously sponsored this event and let us collect the books in their parking lot all morning.
This first attempt by our Poway cluster to have a “friend-raiser” brought almost 975 books into our centers! So many, in fact, that the Poway cluster will share books with other CHW properties. San Diego National Bank collected books from their customers all week prior to the drive, and bank Manager Linda Goycochea helped all morning long to pass out ice cream, lemonade and Halloween treats to family members who stopped by to donate. Passers by saw our eager children waving their hand made book drive posters and stopped by, and local business donated prizes that were raffled off all morning to donors. All in all, it was a very successful community event that will most likely be duplicated in our other community clusters as well as become an annual event!
Turnagain Apartments Renovation Celebration
 On November 5th Turnagain Apartments in Fallbrook celebrated the completion of its renovation with tours of the newly renovated units and new organic community garden, a program thanking all who made this renovation possible, and a lovely outdoor reception held in the new picnic and playground area adjacent to the brand new community center which houses the after school program, a computer Learning Center, new kitchen facility and more. A large display of “Before” and “After” pictures amazed the guest who had not seen the project before it was renovated.
Anne Wilson, Senior Vice President of Housing and Real Estate, thanked her financing partners, Red Capital and Union Bank of California for their steadfast support during very turbulent economic times. Turnagain’s renovation was described by Wilson as a “difficult birth” due to the many obstacles that present themselves during such a large undertaking: all of Turnagain’s 80 units were refurbished, as were the grounds, roofs, and community and recreation areas, all during a very stressful period of financial upheaval. Wilson stressed many times that Turnagain’s beautiful make-over would not have been possible with our trusted financial partners on this project, Red Capital and Union Bank of California.
Mary Jane Jagodzinski, the Senior Project Manager on this project, recognized and thanked Sun Country Builders, the general contractor on this project, for their excellent and hard work. Thanked also for their part of this successful venture were NeighborWorks America and HUD.
Jagodzinski, who was the Senior Project manager of our renowned energy efficient solar project in Poway, SOLARA, made sure that consistent with CHW’s nationally recognized leadership in “green” affordable housing, the rehab scope provided by The John Stewart Company Architecture used integrated green design to preserve structures and provide new amenities:
- Safety Improvements: Hard wired smoke detectors, new fire service, improved fire access, elimination of fire-risk trees.
- Energy – Energy modeling resulted in repair/upgrade of building envelope, new dual pane windows, Energy Star appliances, high efficiency 15 SEER air conditioners (R410-A refrigerant), high efficiency gas water heaters.
- Water – Rerouted hot water distribution, new tub surrounds and bathroom/kitchen fixtures, dual flush toilets, re-landscaping with California native and low water plants, a new organic garden area for residents to cultivate food and plants, and storm water management.
- Recycled/healthy materials – Building envelope upgrade with portions of fiber cement siding, recycled product site furnishings and TotLot, low VOC paints, linoleum in kitchens/bathrooms, Green Label carpet and pad, formaldehyde free cabinets and insulation.
- New Community Center and new access to all amenities, including a new TotLot, allows for full Resident Services programs including CHW’s innovative Green Curriculum, and easy access to the new gazebo and organic garden.
- Long Term Sustainability with lower energy consumption and a community dedicated to conservation and healthy living.
On hand to express their appreciation for the transformation of their homes and community were several residents. Most touching was Alheli Balbuena, a student, Learning Center regular volunteer and one of CHW’s VALOR Scholars.
Don’t forget to adopt a Family this Holiday Season!
 You have until November 30th to make your Holiday a bit brighter by adopting one of our low-income families that despite diligence and hard work are unable to provide special food, toys, shoes or clothing to their children this year. Make your own holiday even more special by knowing you made a difference in another family’s life!
You may adopt a family, adopt a Senior or make a cash donation to make this Holiday a more meaningful one. Please contact Heather Laird at 760-432-6878, Ext. 5457 for details on how to become involved. The deadline to adopt a family or senior is November 30th, but there is no deadline to donate cash!
CHW is blessed to welcome our first “Planned Giving” donors, Mr. and Mrs. David Blecki of Carlsbad!
 David and Catherine Blecki are pretty typical Carlsbad residents, except that they live near one of our largest affordable housing complexes, La Costa Paloma in Carlsbad. When they retired to San Diego from Northern California ten years ago, the Blecki’s had no idea how important living next to this complex would become in their future and as part of their personal legacy.
Sue Reynolds first met Catherine Blecki while she and Patti Hamic Christensen were working to help the plight of migrant farm workers who lived in canyons in Carlsbad. CHW’s past success and ongoing advocacy in providing clean, beautiful and affordable housing for these farm workers means a better life for people too often forgotten. This is what inspired Catherine “Cathy” Blecki the most. Cathy became interested in helping migrant farm workers in her own neighborhood of Carlsbad and subsequently became a community activist and advocate to help underserved people.
The Blecki’s watched as La Costa Paloma, our largest complex with 180 units, was built and 180 underserved families were given the opportunity to move into this neighborhood and this new community. They attended the grand opening of La Costa Paloma in 2005 and were very impressed with the overall beauty of the complex, the spacious and comfortable apartments, as well as the proximity to shopping, schools and the local library. This, they learned, was only the beginning. Once opened, they became aware of all the other level of services that CHW offers to its low-income residents: Financial Fitness classes, Family Asset Building classes with the support of the “FAB” Club, the afterschool program and a program that they especially enjoy supporting, the VALOR scholarship program.
“Not only does Community HousingWorks build beautiful buildings, they create a nurturing place to live by adding all the services they offer,” says Cathy. “I am very impressed by all of the programs that are offered! The ingenuity of your organization is amazing!”
The Blecki’s have decided to donate a part of their estate to Community HousingWorks as a planned gift. They chose our organization as a beneficiary because our organization, with its comprehensive mission to help people move up in the world, is working right in front of their eyes.
For more information on how you to can make a planned gift to Community HousingWorks, please contact Sue Reynolds at 619-282-6647, Ext. 5690.
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