AmeriCorps -- Getting Things Done For the Nature Center
The Western North Carolina Nature Center will see a reduction in their total energy consumption this weekend as local AmeriCorps members participate in an all day weatherization service project this Saturday, Jan 23, beginning at 9 a.m. at the WNC Nature Center, 75 Gashes Creek Road in East Asheville. Visitors are encouraged to stop by and see the AmeriCorps members in action.
Given the tightening financial picture for the City of Asheville, the WNC Nature Center is looking for ways to do its part and cut overhead costs. The Center also sees the project as a promising beginning in following Asheville City Council’s green initiatives in making Asheville facilities become more sustainable and energy efficient.
“As an educational facility focused on our natural surroundings, it’s important for us to exemplify environmental stewardship. By weatherizing these structures we are walking our talk and lowering the energy demand of our facility, “said Dan Clere, Education Specialist.
This weekend, AmeriCorps members will be “walking the talk” through projects such as caulking ceilings and windows, spraying foam insulation around electrical and plumbing penetrations, weather stripping doors and repairing air leaks in the predator night houses.
Jessica Trigg, a member of Project Energize, has been working with other team members as well as Community Action Opportunity, to weatherize low income homes in West Asheville. “We’re used to weatherizing homes. Now we’re very excited to be able to work in a commercial setting. We’ll be learning something new, and it will have that much more of an impact,” Trigg said.
Trigg, along with fellow team member Elizabeth Koenig, has been working with Project Conserve, another local AmeriCorps program that seeks to promote conservation in Western North Carolina, to plan the project at the WNC Nature Center.
“We’re very thankful to have a group of volunteers that are so willing to come to the Nature Center and make this happen, and the Friends is happy to sponsor their costs for the benefit of the Center. Even the smallest changes can really help with energy conservation,” said Sarah Oram, Executive Director of the Friends of the WNC Nature Center, the charitable organization that raises funds in support of the Center.
The project is funded by the Friends of the WNC Nature Center, as well as by donations from AmeriCorps affiliated local organizations. Food was donated by Atlanta Bread Company and Ultimate Ice Cream. For more information about the service project this weekend, contact Josie Butler, the AmeriCorps education and outreach associate, at (910) 337-0707.
