MEET ROBERT PAXTON

Rob doubles up his gig as a Realtor and head of Safe Haven, a non-profit organization based in Falls Church. Rob hangs his real estate hat at Long & Foster's Annandale office. 

I first met Rob at a volunteer event hosted by a mutual friend of ours, in Reston. In our conversation, he mentioned that he works for this non-profit that serves meals for the poor. It just so coincidence that in my sparetime, I sometimes do volunteer work (outside my political activism) for organizations that serve meals for the poor/homeless. But in that capacity, I had never really seen the faces because most of the time we work behind-the-scene, until... last week.

So I decided to pay a visit to his organization last week.

On weekdays, Rob is wearing the hat as the Director for Safe Haven, "a non-profit day shelter that provides food and comfort to the hungry and homeless in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County," according to their website. Safe Haven is falls under the umbrella of First Christian Church of Falls Church. (He didn't tell much about his real estate business. We talk most of the time around the organization he works for).

Safe Haven was founded 10 years ago by Bill LaLiberte who decided at the age of 83 that he wanted to do something for the area homeless with the help of his church.

While waiting for Rob to finished up his meeting, I talked to Erin McKenney, who works as his assistant. At the time, Erin and a volunteer were working the table registering and counting how many people actually showed up that day for breakfast and lunch.

She told me that day they have at least 100+ people. "We have 153 people show up today," she says. People would come and go. "Sometime you see the same people come to the site, sometime they would come one day and never show up again."

Safe Haven serves meals (breakfast and lunch) on Thursdays for most months of the year. However, during the cold winter months they add another day - Tuesdays - to the schedule. 

Rob came to Safe Haven from another non-profit gig he had not far from where his office is now, where he taught financial literacy to the low income (mostly unemployed). He's been with the organization since mid 2010.

On the menu was pasta, salad, and cakes for dessert. So after they served the homeless, we - the volunteers and us - got to taste the food for lunch. Yum! The quality of the food was really good. The salad was fresh. With the exception of cakes, think the salad and pasta were prepared by volunteers from scratch - at Safe Haven's kitchen.

"One day, one of my friends who I haven't seen in 20 years, read about what I do now from Washington Post - and sent us a check - which was enough to feed them for 6 months!" Rob says. Every month, volunteers from different churches in the area come to help them out - whether working the kitchen, washing dishes or serving meals. There's usually one week a month that Safe Haven have to provide the meals upon themselves. 

In addition to working to help the homeless, Rob also loves to help homeless animals. He saved his then someone's dog from a foreclosed home. 

Rob would like to see next year - budget permitted - that Safe Haven expands their services into job training in addition to the ESL (English as a Second Language) that recently was added to the program. "People just need jobs. They want to work," he says. For him to expand their services into job training, they would need to pump up funding from private donations. Because right now, the small grants they received from the County covers only expenses for staffing up the program. There's no funding to cover the job training program yet.

If you want to help, donate and/or volunteer, you can reach them via their website http://www.fccfc.org/index.cfm?page=history-ministry. You can also find them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safe-Haven/193058304041713 

WISH LIST for Safe Haven

Here is the list that was put together by one of the volunteers. You can drop your donation off at Safe Haven, 6165 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church - Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 3pm.

 A Day at Safe Haven (pictures)

SPONSORED POST

Thinking about remodeling your home? In today’s housing environment, whether you are buying or selling, a renovation may be the key to substantially increasing your home’s value. And the difference between this home or that other home – if you’re on the market to buy.

You've got the option to fix up the outside of your home, the inside or both. You can also have a small makeover project that can “wow” people like changing fixtures, painting or updating lighting. Or do a large scale project that include complete kitchen or bathroom remodels, the addition of hard wood flooring or the finishing of a basement area. Whatever you decide.

Here is the challenge. Renovation planning can be time consuming, confusing and overwhelming, it requires careful planning with a financial and time management budget. Chain stores with limit stock options can lead to long waits and delays in renovation projects. Driving from store to store searching for the perfect price and checking ever changing stock can be a waste of time when homeowners have options like a Direct Buy membership.

Why Direct Buy membership makes “cents?”

Direct Buy Membership offers one stop shopping in a local showroom or online at directbuy.com at prices up to 50% off retail. Direct Buy membership gives members access to over 1 million products at direct from the manufacturer prices.

Direct Buy uses its member’s collective buying power to purchase merchandise at wholesale prices then passes that savings along to its members. Direct Buy members have the ability to choose from a wide variety of merchandise from flooring, fixtures and cabinets to jewelry and furniture. Direct Buy reviews praise this innovated and simple way to shop at greatly discounted rates. Direct Buy Reviews also found Direct Buy’s no pressure sales force friendly and knowledgeable. 

Check this out. 

From ski homes, to golf estates to urban luxury living, the Fine Properties Fair offers attendees access to important information about global vacation second-homes in top locations like the Carribean, Florida, Central America, Europe, Australia, Canada, and more. In addition to browsing real estate listings, visitors can also meet online with real estate experts participating in the event. Visitors can join webminars focused on trends on international real estate investment.

If you haven't attended virtual event, think of it like going to an exhibition except instead of real booths you have virtual booths, where you can participate in whatever activities they have on there.

Realtors can benefit from this kind of luxury properties Fair. Who knows your client is interested in buying their second, third homes - internationally?

"Purchasing high-end real estate is never an easy decision," said Isaac Showman, Vice-President and head of Online Fairs. "The Fine Properties Fair provides all of the information potential buyers might need to make an informed decision and does so in just one place."

Fine Properties Fair is going to be held on October 18-19.

Check it out. You can log in from anywhere in the world and register for FREE at Fine Properties Fair.

--

Disclosure: Urban Trekker is partipating in the information network.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Fine Metro Homes is a residential and commercial investment company founded by David Maier and Jeff Leighton who specialize in rehabbing DC area properties and acquiring commercial buildings. Please visit our website at www.finemetrohomes.com and drop us a line.

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Construction and demolition debris makes up over half of our nation's solid waste. That's the problem that Community Forklift trying to solve with their business. They are not a forklift store, rather it is a thrift store that sells surplus, salvaged and new green building materials - with a social mission. Think of it as a combination of Home Depot and Goodwill thrift store wrap in one package.

So the other week I talked to Ruthie Mundell, Outreach and Education Director with Community Forklift, to get an insight from her about their business. 

Reduce, reuse, reclaimed is embedded into their business to provide green options that are affordable. If you look at their goals, these are what they are aimed for: to lift up communities by making repairs and renovation more affordable; reduce construction industry waste, reuse materials; promote environmentally-friendly building materials and method; and develop career opportunities for communities around.

Part of our inventory comes from deconstruction, in which a building is carefully taken apart by skilled laborers instead of demolished. This creates jobs, and can cost less than traditional demolition. Instead of paying dumping fees, property owners earn tax deductions. Construction careers are created through job training in deconstruction. The materials can be sold cheaply, so homeowners and small businesses can afford repairs – making neighborhoods cleaner and safer.

Ruthie said that for inventory of products, the store accepts all kinds of home building materials donations with few exceptions. Inventory of products varied depending on what they receive at that time. It could be doors, windows, lumbers, wood flooring, sinks, etc. - anything that you can find from home improvement or hardware store. Though, they're not big box home building retailers, so don't expect them to have whatever you need in supply at all times. Sometime donations would include brand new stuff still in a package.

People who get the best stuff are those who pop-in once in a while. The store have flex rules that allows prospective buyers to put item on hold, if they're not sure about the measurements. In the event, they decided to buy, they can come back with their truck at later date, or store their stuff there in the meantime until they're ready to get their stuff - for a maximum of two weeks.

Reusing building materials just make more sense in times like this, especially for everyone looking for affordable green options. In addition, we have less waste to deal with that would otherwise end up in landfill. Less waste help municipality saves money. And for builders, if they can avoid or reduce paying dumping fees, it lowers the cost of their projects.  

When it comes to pricing of their products, Ruthie says "it depends on the condition and demand." Normally items are priced around 40 to 90% below market value. Occasionally, you'll find some free items, too. Like doors, dishwashers. Whenever they get too many items that they don't have enough room for, they'll put them on sale. More like fire sale. She said last month they have doors that were selling for $10! 

CF do have a separate division that handles the sale of salvage art, of which their items are priced much higher - than the other type of materials they have in stock. But considering the price, it's still a good deal.  

Their business have double in size during recession. In the five year they're in business, they've grown from 3 to 17 employees. That's pretty good. In addition to creating their own green jobs, they work together with another organization for the training of green jobs. 

Some of the success stories come from small remodelling business owners who are able to survive during recession because they get hired to do the jobs - at affordable rates. Thanks to the supply of products they could get from the store. 

You can learn more about how they deal with challenges and customers' success stories from a social-driven business in this interview. Alternatively, you can also subscribe via iTunes. 

Ecotwist_interview_with_Ruthie_Mundell_Comm_Forklift.wav Listen on Posterous

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When you watch this short documentary, you'd think that this looks like in Denmark. The truth is, it's not. It's the city of Portland, Oregon. If they can do it, other cities can do it, too. 

What do you think?

Transportation planners in Portland, Oregon are taking their famous bicycle boulevards to the next level. By adding more routes and stepping up the traffic calming treatments, the city is not only making these streets more attractive and usable for cyclists, but also for pedestrians, runners, children, and anyone else who gets around under their own power.

These next-generation facilities have been christened “Neighborhood Greenways,” and by 2015, over 80 percent of all Portlanders will live within half a mile of one. The city is counting on these re-engineered streets to reach its goal of increasing bicycle mode share from eight percent to 25 percent by 2030.

via Streetfilms

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via images.businessweek.com

Who knew? All these years, we heard the success of Toyota. But Subaru we hardly hear anything about their success and how they embrace sustainability. In a nutshell, Subaru has zero layoffs (despite recession), zero paycuts and zero waste. Sustainability must be good for business.

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Harry W. Gray was born into slavery in 1852 at Arlington House, an estate overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria. His house is a designated Arlington County landmark. 

A little bit of history of the house

The Harry W. Gray House, located at 1005 South Quinn Street in Arlington, Virginia was constructed  in 1881  in  the  Italianate style.  The  masonry dwelling,  constructed of  five-course American-bond brick, presents a rectangular  footprint  and freestanding  rowhouse  form typical of  urban  settings.  Standing two stories in  height, the three-bay-wide dwelling, which faces north,  sits on a solid brick foundation.  Capped by  a standing-seam metal shallow-pitched shed  roof, the  dwelling  also  features 212  wood  windows, two interior-end brick chimneys with corbeled caps,  and  a  full-width  one-story porch,  which  stretches across the faqade. A highly decorative Italianate-style entablature caps the facade.  A small wood-frame porch on the southeast comer of  the L-shaped dwelling was enclosed circa 1960. The  dwelling  is  located  in  Gray's  Subdivision  of   the  Arlington View neighborhood, a  middle-class community with  an  historically African-American heritage.  The  Harry  W.  Gray  House  is located  on  a 0129-acre  sloping lot with a grassy yard, brick driveway,  and  landscaping.  A  wooden  fence  partially encloses  the property.  A  small,  non-historic shed is located  on the northwest  comer  of the  sit.  The property is in  excellent condition and has had little exterior alteration since its construction. 

via Arlington County.

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