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, National Council of La Raza, 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.
Quench our Kids’ Thirst for Books!
These kids are thirsty!
We’re having an old-fashioned BOOK DRIVE to build the learning libraries for our After School programs at SOLARA, Hillside Village, Park View Terrace and Oak Knoll Villas.
 Stop by on October 17, 2009, between 9:00 am and noon at the San Diego National Bank (corner of Poway & Community Roads), Poway.
Help improve a child’s mind. Drop off a new or used book suitable for children at any point in their school career – grades K-12. Don’t have a book for a specific child? Donate materials suitable for use in the school library (reference, encyclopedias, software, etc.) We guarantee it will all be put to good use!
Raffles, ice cream and fun for all!
Call K.J. Koljonen - 619-282-6647 Ext. 5692 – for more info.
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