Make A Difference

1house at a time™ is a program of A Nurtured World, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible as allowed for charitable contributions by the IRS.  There are a lot of ways that you can help us meet our program goals such as:

• Volunteer for a Specific Role in our Events
  
  • Skilled Leader
  • Efficiency Leader
  • Efficiency Expert
  • 1Houser
    
• Adopt a House
• Sponsor an Event
• Make a Contribution
• Start Your Own Chapter
• Provide an ARRA Block Grant to the Program
• Lend us your Brain!

Volunteer

1House needs volunteers to fulfill the following roles:

Skilled Leaders

These volunteers must be able to assemble and lead a group of volunteers to complete a work event at one of the houses. They must possess the hands on skills necessary to complete the improvements. Fluent Spanish is a big plus! A skilled leader would typically be able to perform the following tasks:

• Conduct, in conjunction with an efficiency leader, a pre-visit of a home to generate a list of improvements
• Obtain the materials, tools, and appliances necessary for the work event
• Round up volunteers for the work event
• Conduct a work event
• Assist with the improvements installation (hands on)
• Coordinate and complete a follow up improvement for a home
• Train volunteers to prepare them to be skilled leaders or efficiency leaders      

Efficiency Leaders

These volunteers will work with the homeowners to develop the list of improvements and to and train and educate the homeowners on how to use their new improvements and change their behaviors to improve the energy and water-use efficiency in their homes. An efficiency leader would typically perform the following tasks:

• Conduct, in conjunction with a skilled leader, a pre-visit of a home to generate a list of improvements
• Interview home occupants and inspect homes in order to perform an energy audit of the home
• Develop and implement a training and education plan specific to each house
• Educate and train home occupants to make full use of their new improvements
• Analyze utility information to determine the degree of success of the home transformation
• Conduct follow up visits with the homeowners to continue training and education as well as identify new opportunities for improvements

Efficiency Expert

These volunteers will be the technical content experts in both home water use and energy efficiency. An efficiency expert would typically perform the following tasks:

• Analyze improvements installed in homes to determine their effectiveness
• Work with efficiency leaders to develop the most cost-effective improvements for a house
• Seek best available technologies and work with skilled leaders and efficiency leaders to implement them in homes
• Occasionally attend work events

1Houser

1Housers are front line volunteers that will participate in work events or follow up work events to transform the homes. These volunteers require little to extensive hands on experience. 1Housers would typically perform the following tasks:

• Install appliances, gutters, rain barrels, toilets and other improvements that require hands on skills
• Inventory house lighting and replace incandescent light bulbs with CFLs
• Inventory home appliance and energy usage and install power strips to minimize phantom loads
• Photograph home events
• Run necessary errands during home events
• Provide refreshments for volunteers and occupants during events
• Work with occupants during home events to explain what is happening and to address and concerns and questions.

All 1house at a time^TM volunteers will be required to sign a Volunteer Waiver Form.

Adopt a House

Make a difference for someone in your community. If you know of a family who needs this service and would like to donate the funds necessary for the transformation, you simply need to apply and then make a contribution specifying the homeowner’s name. Depending on what is done in the home, the transformation process can cost as little as $1,500 and go up to as much as $5,000. 1House volunteers will be willing to review the home and make recommendations for the work event. If you represent an organization, you and your team can volunteer to work on the home along with a skilled leader and efficiency leader.

Sponsor a House

Would you like to experience a unique and fulfilling team event for your workplace?  You organization can sponsor a work event and work as a team under our skilled leaders to complete an event for a homeowner in need.  Events are typically four to six hours which makes it easy to do within a busy work schedule.  Organizations like Freescale, Spansion, University of Texas, Abiding Love Lutheran Church and others have already completed work events with us.

Make a Contribution

Our individual donors make a huge difference!  It only takes 30 people to commit to donating $10 per month to complete a home.  This may be the easiest way for you to make a difference. Without your donations, we couldn't continue the work we do. Please click on this link to make a contribution. Be sure to write "1house at a time" in the item field.  If you are interested in participating in our monthly giving program, please contact elizabeth@nurturedworld.org.  If you would like to make a contribution right now, click on the link below and in the item field, earmark your donation for the "1house at a time" program.

ARRA Funding for 1house at a time^TM Programs

Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), there is a unique opportunity to start our program very quickly in any city in the nation with minimal 'seed' money from your ARRA allocations.  A Nurtured World has developed a model of implementation for the 1house at a time^TM program that qualifies for different sources of ARRA funds depending on the program implemented.  If your municipality or county is interested in supporting the growth of this program in your area, please review our ARRA Residential Resource Efficiency Program information packet.

Start Your Own Chapter

1House will work in any city, anywhere. We want you to start a chapter in your town. Please email Mike if you are up to the challenge of making a difference where you live.

Lend Us Your Brain

We are looking for experts who have ideas for energy and water savings ideas for our houses. We are looking for contacts in organizations, foundations, private companies who may be able to lend their expertise, volunteers, materials, or donations. Your ideas make a difference! Email Mike to make your suggestion. We want to hear from you!