31 Days of Giving

By Christine Barrett

Every year, many of us ask our loved ones the same question, “What would you like for Christmas?”  The Holidays are no doubt an exciting time for children, who often have long lists of the toys they want.  For me, I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older, the joy of giving far outweighs the joy of receiving.

While it’s true that many have struggled throughout the Great Recession, the truth is that most of us probably are not forced to do without the basic necessities of life.  There comes a time when the term “giving back” becomes more meaningful, and the upcoming month of December seems to embody the spirit of giving. 

So, perhaps instead of buying yet another pair of slippers for your in-laws, or some other item that may eventually end up in your basement or garage, here is a list of 31 ways to give a different kind of gift next month. The list is compiled from articles we’ve read and research we’ve done.  There’s a thoughtful way to give back for each day in December.

Donate on December 1

Your tax-deductible donation to Wounded Warrior Project® helps thousands of injured warriors returning from the battlefield and helps provide assistance to their families.  www.woundedwarriorproject.org

Donate on December 2

Save a pet. A gift of $50 to animaladvocatesalliance.org bails a dog or cat out of a high-kill shelter and provides vet care and medicine to help it get healthy for adoption.

Donate on December 3

Teach Gen Next. A full 67 million children worldwide aren’t attending elementary classes today. Just $25 to pencilsofpromise.org sends one child to a new school in a developing country for 78 days; $118 covers an entire year.

Donate on December 4

Thousands are dead and more than 11 million people are suffering in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines.  Your donation will help provide food, shelter and the basic necessities for the survivors of this horrendous storm.  Make a donation at www.care.org/donate.

Donate on December 5

Donate your old cell phone to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ncadv.org), which will refurbish and sell it, then use the proceeds to get survivors back on their feet.

Donate on December 6

Trout Unlimited works to keep America's rivers and streams clean, healthy and fishable for generations to come.  Make sure that happens by donating at www.tu.org/get-involved/donate.

Donate on December 7

Pick up the grocery tab for a senior. Some 3.5 million Americans over age 50 don’t have enough to eat; $8 to drivetoendhunger.org feeds one of them healthy meals for a day.

Donate on December 8

Give the gift of Honeybees.  Your donation of $30 will provide a family with a package of bees, the box and hive, plus training in beekeeping.  This will help families from Uganda to Haiti earn income through the sale of honey, beeswax and pollen.  www.heifer.org

Donate on December 9

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is dedicated to preserving your freedom under the Second Amendment.  Show your support by donating at

membership.nrahq.org

Donate on December 10

Provide clean H20. Your gift of $30 to wellsbringhope.org gives one villager in West Africa access to safe water and good sanitation for more than 30 years, drastically reducing child mortality.

Donate on December 11

Help women get free mammograms. Just click the pink button at thebreastcancersite.com. Last year they funded a whopping 2,112 screenings for needy American women.

Donate on December 12

Shop for art’s sake. Heart of Haiti gifts ($10 to $120) at macys.com provide steady work for many Haitians.

Donate on December 13

Send a teddy bear to the child of a deployed marine. For $25, jonathancollins.org gives a plush toy with a voice message recorded by the parent, which will play when the paw is pressed.

Donate on December 14

The Heritage Foundation promotes conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. Support the cause today by donating at usconservatives.about.com.

Donate on December 15

In just about any dresser drawer, one can find a pair of eyeglasses that are no longer being used. That same pair of eyeglasses can change another person's life. Find out how you can help, www.lionsclubs.org.

Donate on December 16

Coupon for a cause. Here’s a win-win: At causeon.com you get deals on everything from scrapbooks to luxurious spa services, and 20 percent of the site’s proceeds goes to a variety of charities in your community.

Donate on December 17

Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. Your donation will help conserve and protect endangered wetlands throughout North America. Make a donation at www.ducks.org.

Donate on December 18

Prevent blindness. Buy Toms glasses ($135 and up, toms.com) and give someone in Asia sight-saving treatment.

Donate on December 19

Give the jobless a leg up—with a pair of slacks or other office clothes you no longer wear. Careergear.org coaches down-on-their-luck men on how to land a job and loans them the attire to ace the interview.

Donate on December 20

Founded in 1839, the Georgia Historical Society is the oldest continuously operating state historical society in the South and one of the oldest historical organizations in the nation. The institution is dedicated to collecting, examining, and teaching Georgia history.  Help to make sure that our grandchildren know about our State’s rich history by donating at www.georgiahistory.com/donate-now.

Donate on December 21

Buy a counseling session for a soldier returning home after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan with your $17 donation to giveanhour.org.

Donate on December 22

$50 will buy a dairy goat which is a lasting, meaningful way for you to help a child on the other side of the world.  Donate at www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com.

Donate on December 23

Pass on the books that you’ve already read to globalliteracyproject.org, which will get books to deprived youth, helping them learn to read.

Donate on December 24

Stop bullying—for good. Laura and Kirk Smalley lost their tormented son, Ty, 11, to suicide; $25 dollars to standforthesilent.org helps them speak to student groups and prevent more deaths.

Donate on December 25

The Heritage Foundation promotes conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. Support the cause today by donating at usconservatives.about.com.

Donate on December 26

Make a difference in your zip code. Volunteermatch.org connects you with ways to improve your neighborhood, like working at a food bank, clowning around with seniors and coaching a girls’ soccer team.

Donate on December 27

Millions of families in America don’t have enough food. Children go to bed hungry. Parents wonder where their child’s next meal will come from. Your donation of $20 will provide $100 in food for these hungry families.  www.feedthechildren.org

Donate on December 28

Care for a chimp orphaned or harmed by poachers. Just $10 to janegoodall.org buys 22 pounds of food at the renowned primatologist’s clinic in the Republic of Congo.

Donate on December 29

Help women in war-torn countries start a business: $25 buys one woman a sewing kit so she can earn a living as a tailor. Go to womenforwomen.org.

Donate on December 30

Start a reading chain. Guatemala has the highest illiteracy rate in Central America; $10 to readingvillage.org helps pay school fees for rural teen leaders, who in turn teach younger children to read.

Donate on December 31

Help the dreams of a child with a life threatening medical condition come true.  The Make-A-Wish Foundation does just that.  Continue spreading holiday cheer into the New Year by making a child smile.  Make your donation at wish.org/ways-to-help/giving/donate.

Message from Doug

I’m feeling a little under the weather as I write this (fall allergies and lack of sleep are to blame).  So, instead of talking about a specific subject, I’ve decided to take the easy way out and give you some random bits of information that you may not be aware of.  Here goes…


I have run with the bulls in Spain, twice.  Once solo, the second time with my Dad.

We are one of a few contractors in the nation to use a unique, recyclable, reusable form to construct our footings.  This saves over 203,000 feet of lumber each year that would be used on our jobsites and then sent to Atlanta area landfills

I have also bungee jumped, sky dived, and ridden a motorcycle through Europe.

Herbert Construction Co. was the first residential concrete contractor in the nation to use a Robotic Total Station to layout foundations.  Since then, hundreds have been sold to contractors throughout North America.

Calling concrete, “cement” is like calling a loaf of bread “flour.”  Cement is just one ingredient of concrete, just as flour is one ingredient of bread.

Concrete is comprised of four main ingredients: Cement, aggregates (stones), sand, and water.

Bread is comprised of seven ingredients: Flour, salt, shortening, sugar, yeast, water, and Mom’s love.

My grandfather, Henry Edward Herbert, invented the canister bug sprayer.

The biggest benefit of concrete is its compressive strength.  A single piece of concrete the same size as a can of Coca Cola can support 14,719 lbs.  That’s more than the weight of a School Bus.

The drawback of concrete is its tensile strength. That same Coca Cola size piece of concrete could be pulled apart with just 300 lbs of force.

Take Care,

Recent Referrals

October is that wonderful time of year when our homes are filled with the scent of pumpkins and apples, and we look forward to that great pot of chili! The Holidays are just around the corner, and everyone (okay, maybe not everyone) begins making their plans.  As we prepare for our Halloween festivities, we want to be sure to let a few people know that they are very much appreciated.  Here is a great big THANK YOU to the following people that recently referred our company: 

Jeff Shaw, Windsong Properties – Home Builder   www.WindsongLife.com  

   

Mark Galey, Magnet Construction Services – Home Builder  www.MRemodeling.net

Mike Loudermilk – Grading Contractor  770-992-1612

Three obvious reasons you need a basement Plus one you may not know about

By:  Barry Herbert

Whenever I drive through a subdivision and see houses being constructed on concrete slabs, I am amazed that people would not recognize the many benefits of building their home on a basement. 

In this article I’ll attempt to briefly illustrate three fairly well known advantages of basements, plus discuss one that most people hadn’t considered.  While we generally think of homes when we discuss basements, the same advantages can be applied to office buildings, apartments or most other types of buildings.

1.  Safety from storms.  Some of our newsletter readers either live in a concrete home, would like to live in a concrete home or have at least considered living in one.  A concrete home, of course, is the ideal protection against storms. 

Unfortunately, most Americans still live in wood frame dwellings.  For those families, the thought of having a basement to get into during severe weather, such as a tornado, is a real comfort.

Any corner of a concrete basement is much safer than anything upstairs in a wood frame house.  A safe room within a basement multiplies that protection many times over.  These rooms are often built under the front porch area, which in many cases already has four walls.  Too often these areas are merely filled with dirt and capped off with a concrete slab creating an unusable space.

A more efficient means of utilizing this area is to place a door opening in the wall separating the porch from the basement and constructing a suspended concrete slab over the porch area.  This creates an almost impenetrable safe room for people, documents, and pictures.  It also doubles as a great place to store food that needs to be in a cool place.

2. Economical living space.  Although a basement foundation does cost more than a house built on a slab or crawlspace, the additional space gained is difficult to match with any other type of cost / square footage ratio.  The same roof that covers the lower level, also covers the first and second story of the house.  The footprint of the house remains the same, whether a basement is included or not, so there is no additional lot cost.

This basement contains a family room

and a game room

The extra space can be finished off and used as a family room, a recreation room, an apartment for aging parents or almost grown children, an exercise room or just extra bedrooms.  If the entire lower level—or terrace level—is finished off, several or all of the above rooms can be incorporated into the floor plan.  It is not necessary to finish the entire lower level immediately.  It can instead wait until the need arises or until money is available.

3. Extra Storage.  Sometimes you need extra storage in addition to extra livable space.   Utilizing the basement or lower level for that storage space is very economical.  An added benefit to creating this extra space for storage is that you may actually be able to use your garage for its original purpose.

4. Energy Efficiency.   The least recognized reason for a basement is possibly the best one.  Mike Hancock of Basement Contractors Inc. based in Edmond, Oklahoma, is a registered mechanical engineer.  He has given several seminars at the Concrete Foundations Association’s annual summer meetings regarding concrete homes and the peculiarities of heating and cooling them.

Efficiency is attained by circulating air between the 

basement and the main floor.

In addition to being a registered engineer, Hancock is a poured wall contractor specializing in concrete homes and basements.  He not only is considered an expert by his peers, but he practices what he preaches.  He has constructed several concrete homes and commercial buildings, and hundreds of basements. “A basement which is sunk down into the ground acts like a big heat sink,” he states. “In order to fully utilize this phenomenon, HVAC systems should be designed to circulate cool air from the basement into the upper floors during the summer months. Another benefit is the circulation of conditioned air helps stabilize the humidity in the basement.  During the winter months, the lower level costs little or nothing to heat.”

Basements are naturally cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter because of the constant ground temperature.  Hancock believes this occurrence should be taken advantage of by circulating cool basement air into the upper floors during warm periods.  Then, during winter months, the lower level is heated for practically nothing.  In fact many homeowners in the north—where winters are extreme—don’t heat their basements at all when they use them for storage only.  A relatively comfortable temperature is maintained during some of the coldest months because of the warmth emanating from the ground.

Indoor Air Quality.  As in any home or office building, indoor air quality is of upmost importance.  Our ancestors didn’t need to worry as much about indoor air quality because air was constantly leaking in and around windows and doors.  Most homes and offices built today—especially those utilizing concrete construction—are extremely airtight.  While this makes the structure much more energy efficient, it also makes it difficult for the structure to “breath”.  Whole house ventilation systems are available, and are considered by some to be a good idea in new construction.

In certain parts of the country basements are typical. In northern states where foundations are required to extend below a predetermined frost line, much of the wall required for a basement is already mandated.  The farther south you live, the shallower the frost line is, and so it becomes less economical to build below ground— unless you look at the big picture.  This article by no means details all of the many advantages of lower level living, but it hopefully will start you thinking.

The unabridged version of this article was originally published in the September, 2013 edition of Concrete Homes + Low Rise Construction Magazine.