The IBEW team on the Habitat project are, standing from left: Sheila Lawton, IBEW 1245 Business Rep; Lauren Bartlett, Sacramento Regional Transit and IBEW 1245 Advisory Council member; Jesse Naranjo, IBEW 340; and Steve Marcotte, PG&E. Kneeling, from left: Walter Carmier, Frontier; and Eric Olsen, Sacramento Regional Transit.
IBEW Local 1245 members descended on Humanity Lane in Sacramento on March 1 to spend their Saturday off to help build houses at the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity’s Indian Lane Project.
“It’s a way to give back to the community that supports our IBEW members every day,” said Steve Marcotti, an eight-year member and one of the union’s organizing stewards.
The members hammered nails, cut siding and wrapped two homes with paper to help get them ready for a deserving family.
By becoming owners rather than renters, these families will be living in well-constructed, energy-efficient homes that will reduce their monthly living expenses.
Walter Carmier
The homes are all LEED certified and have the following benefits for the new owners:
- Onsite solar power that can reduce electricity bills by as much as 50% to 60%
- Low-emissivity windows
- Attic insulation
- Tight duct upgrades to existing HVAC systems when possible, which will prevent heat from escaping in the winter and from leaking in during the summer
- Compact fluorescent lighting packages
- Exhaust fans with timers in all bathrooms
- Ridge vent fresh air systems
- On-demand water heaters
Jesse Naranjo, IBEW 340
“It’s not a handout. It’s is a hand uplifting deserving families seeking the American Dream of owning their own home and I’m proud that the brothers and sisters of IBEW took time out today to help,” said Marcotti, who works as a PG&E Service Representative in Sacramento.
The project features 14 two-bedroom and four-bedroom two-story single family homes.
Located directly across from the Florin Road Regional Transit Light Rail Station, the Indian Lane project is a Transit Oriented Development as well as a LEED certified home.
Here’s what a helping hand can do.
IBEW members are joined by some of the people who will live in the houses being built.