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70 OCTOBER 2014 Concrete international

Community Service: Benefits and Challenges by Michael Morrison

Community service is a hot topic and a real attention grabber. Most people are interested, most think it is a good thing, and most think their chapter should do it. But then you hear: “I don’t have the time,” “I’m already committed to other things,” “Someone else can do it,” or “Let’s just make a donation.”

Community service can be a rewarding, team-building experience and allows you to use your skills and knowledge in helping to provide for others in need. It’s not easy and takes time, patience, and commitment. In the end, it’s something that’s hard to measure or put a value on, yet it’s so important to all of our communities.

So…does your chapter want to offer or provide commu- nity services? Here are some considerations: • What type of support/service shall your chapter provide? • Can your chapter support this financially? • Do you have Board support (both financially and

physically)? • Do you have a champion? Someone who will lead this? • Will your members support this action? • Will they participate?

Once you answer these questions, then you can begin investigating what type of support your chapter is interested in providing. Because we are part of the industry, concrete seems like the “go to” answer and we will discuss that in the next section, but some other community service options include:

1. Clean-ups; 2. Assisting the elderly with home maintenance (a Saturday

clean-up/fix-it/paint-it); 3. Hosting a food or book drive(s) during your monthly

meetings; 4. Hosting a “Toys for Tots” fundraiser during the holidays; 5. Financially sponsoring a project; and 6. Supporting an interest or need that is important/close to

your chapter (ACS, ALS, JDRF).

Donating Concrete Work As I stated, ACI chapters are part of the concrete indus-

try, so placing concrete for a local nonprofit is a natural service option. I’m going to focus on that option, seeing as that is something in which I have the most experience. Prior to joining the ACI staff, I was an active member of the Illinois Chapter – ACI for 24 years and I led the Community Services committee for 15 years. Our efforts focused on provid- ing concrete flatwork for projects located within 60 miles (96 km) of the greater Chicagoland area. We mostly worked with Habitat for Humanity and our projects knew no limits.

We worked on new single family home construction and gutted and refurbished homes, some of which were abandoned and some were old drug houses. We also worked on apartment buildings being converted into condominiums. We did small projects that included 75 ft (23 m) of sidewalk and a driveway

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apron, and we did larger projects that included 100 ft (30 m) long driveways, patios, shed slabs, stairs, garage floor slabs, and basement floors. There were also some very large projects, including multiple garage and patio installations, and 300+ ft (90 m) of sidewalk all on the same day.

The key to the success of these projects was having dedi- cated volunteers. We (the chapter) did not do any of the prep work. I made a couple of site visits and provided guidance and help as needed, but the project manager made sure all of the formwork and subbase was properly prepared. We provided the concrete, placed it, finished it, and applied the curing compound where needed. This only required 1 day or a half a day commitment from the volunteer chapter members.

Now, your chapter could also provide more service by doing the formwork, for example. This may provide an

opportunity to include more volunteers because the form- work would be done on one weekend with the concrete placing on the next weekend. However, I will say that I never had too many volunteers. I was always looking for more.

Our chapter was always very welcomed by Habitat and the other nonprofits we worked with. Those groups usually have a large list of unskilled volunteers from churches, schools, and companies, but they probably never get a call from someone who says “Hello, we’d like to provide some free concrete work for your project.” They will be very excited to work with you and you can expect them to contact you for future projects. We made an effort to spread our services all over the Northeastern Illinois area, choosing not to work with only one Habitat chapter, but many.

Providing flatwork is a great way to work with your members and also get those members who have never placed concrete an opportunity to do so. You’d be surprised by how many of your members have never manned the chute, pulled a rake, struck off a slab, edged a slab, cut a joint, floated a surface, or sprayed curing compound. It’s a great team-building experience and can get members more involved with your chapter. Also, let’s not forget our student chapters. They are also a great resource and what a great opportunity for the local chapter to work side-by-side with the student chapter!

Rally Your Volunteers To be successful, you will need to promote the event and

recruit. Put an article in your monthly newsletter—not once, but multiple times and make sure it gets in there months ahead of time. Place it on the front page of your website. Mention it at all meetings and golf outings, and send out regular e-mail blasts. Tell members to bring a friend or co-worker. You need volun- teers, so promote, promote, promote.

If you’re interested in adding community services to your chapter’s identity, you’ll need a strong leader—or two or three—along with a strong volunteer base. The effort is significant but the completed project...even more so.

Selected for reader interest by the editors.

Michael Morrison is ACI Manager, Certification Program Development. He leads the development of potential new certification programs and assists ACI subcommittees with current ACI Board-approved programs. He serves as the liaison with development facilitators and works closely with the ACI certification team and the local

sponsoring groups in the development, review, training, delivery, and promotion of the programs. He also serves as ACI’s certification representative to standards development organizations and specifying agencies.

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