[mit-habitat-exec] Lessons from Campus Build

[Mike Kokko]

Hi all,

 

I just found out today that we did *not* get our Campus Build lumber donated
by Lowe's.

 

That's the bad news -- I guess we'll have to write this off as a donation to
Merrimack Valley HFH.  The total cost of the lumber delivery was $697.00.
I'm terribly sorry that this did not work-out; if you want to talk about
why, can have a meeting next week.

 

The good news (I'm told) is that Lowe's donates a great deal of materials
each month to Habitat for Humanity.  I finally got a nice explanation from
my contact (Meredith in Woburn) of how each store donates a fixed percentage
of their monthly sales to Habitat.  Unfortunately this store already donated
a lot to the Boston chapter, and in doing-so they exceeded their donation
quota.  Thus, we get no break on our recent order.

 

Here are some things we've learned that might help us next year:

 

1.       We have to start much, much earlier looking for donations.

 

2.       Merrimack Valley HFH greatly overestimated the materials needed for
the build.  We should get a FIRM set of plans from them several months
before the build (this will be tough) so we can get an accurate materials
list before we buy.

 

3.       Multiple people organizing the build (ie: one on donations, one on
the actual construction, one on logistics) would help a lot.

 

4.       Running the build during Spring Weekend was very beneficial: Tom
and Linda really hooked us up with people and things from facilities.

 

5.       Transportation rental timing can restrict work time.  We should
reserve a truck or van very early and try to get a good size for the project
we are doing.

 

6.       If we want to get donations for Lowe's, we should contact them at
the *beginning of a quarter* and call them on (almost) a daily basis.
Playing the multiple-store game is kind of tricky.

 

7.       National Lumber wants to help.  Margie didn't respond to us after
many, many messages, so we should call them often and try to speak with
other people in the corporate office.  I got a call from someone else (Ken
maybe?) at National to set-up a donation a couple of days before the build
once we had already placed our Lowe's order.

 

Since we're on the topic of lessons for next year, I've attached some files
I have on this year's build so that you all can pass them on if necessary.

 

Thanks,

 

 

- Mike 

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