Tuesday, October 30, 2007

habitat for humanity

today i got to do something really cool. the corporate team at work does PR for habitat for humanity, and as part of our office's pro bono work some of us volunteer to help out on the account. this week the jimmy carter work project (habitat's biggest build of the year, a weeklong thing that goes to one city each year and draws lots of celebs and stuff while the regular people build houses at various sites) is in los angeles -- two separate build sites, one in san pedro and one in south LA with various fix-it projects around the city -- and we've been pitching it for the past few weeks.


today i staffed the south LA site, working the media table. unfortch we weren't very busy as far as media (mainly because pres. carter and garth brooks were at the san pedro site) but i loved being able to go there and see all the people so happy to help. reading the stories of the families who will receive homes almost made me cry...habitat really has an amazing program. all these deserving families will get homes they need so much, and hundreds of volunteers get to help give it to them.

and i love my job, don't get me wrong, but i think one of the best parts of doing PR is being able to further the voice of a worthy cause, instead of focusing on the bottom line all the time. my favorite part of the auto team is working on toyota's philanthropy and community relations programs because i feel like i'm helping to give back. habitat allows tons of people to do that.

anyway, i got a little time today to take a look around the construction site...here are a few pics:




the rest of the day was totally nuts and i'm wiped out now. not to mention the 405 got closed down today so for some reason it jammed up every other freeway in southern CA and made me CRAZY. i'm going to monterey next week for work, so right now i'm trying really hard to get everything ready. but tomorrow is halloween and i'm excited.

and a side note...for those of you following the apt. 1 bathroom flood drama, here's the latest update: this week brandon took off the mirror (which hung on the wall that got wet the last time the ceiling leaked) because we noticed something weird going on, and we discovered this lovely mold deposit. YUCK. basically we freaked out. all is well though, i called the landlord ASAP and they came and fixed everything :)


5 comments:

Elder Bryan Carpenter said...

Lyndsey, I totally agree with your assertion that one of the great parts of being involved in PR is working with the community. Some of my fondest memories are of the community projects I helped with when I worked in banking. Banks are highly community focused, so we were doing projects with Christmas in April, United Way, March of Dimes, etc. all the time. One of my favorite things we did was pick a local charity -- usually a children's shelter or something like that -- when we opened a new branch. We'd string $100 bills together for the ribbon cutting, then give that money as a donation to the local charity as part of our entrance into the local area. It was a cool way to support local charities and made for some great visuals at the branch openings. Enjoy Monterey! I consider that one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Angela and Mike said...

Nasty mold...eww...I would've freaked out too. I can't believe that I didn't even know about the apt. 1 flood drama...even after us emailing back and forth every day.

The Hab for Humanity project seemed really cool. I love doing things like that. I don't get many opportunities at my current job, but I did at Nu Skin. Good for you...and cool to see all those celebs. I'll miss you next week!

emily said...

OMG you blogged about the event! So excited. And, did you see, your photos got picked up by Curbed LA!!! Thank you again for coming out and supporting our JCWP efforts.

Megan said...

Lyndsey! It was so so SO good to see you. I can't believe that you are a real grown up now, with a real grown up job- I still don't feel grown up. You look so amazing Lyndsey- I hope things are going well. Talk to you soon. click on my comment to see our blog. Love you!

Joseph Watson said...

I found one of your photos via Curbed LA and would like to include it in an essay on humanitarian design I've written to be published in Thresholds, a design journal published by MIT. Please let me know if that's ok with you, you can email me at joseph.michael.watson@gmail.com. Thanks!