Painting a Better Tomorrow is a one-day experience unlike any other. Join us Nov. 10 to help us paint and change someone’s life forever—maybe even your own.

Few things feel better than closing the books on a successful project. Especially one fueled by kindness and compassion.

Whatever your designation in the world of residential homebuilding, you have a calling. Sometimes that calling extends beyond the job site or office. Because, at the end of the day, our collective job is to provide housing for the millions of people who make the Puget Sound region home.

Shoreline Veterans Center

We are the lucky ones. We get to give people a place they can call their very own. Sometimes this space is temporary or shared with others. But it doesn’t make it any less theirs. Take the folks who reside at the Shoreline Veterans Center, a Compass Housing Alliance property. The center is a 25-bed facility for honorably discharged homeless veterans who seek rehabilitation from drug, alcohol, or other issues. The goal of the center and its internal program is to help residents resolve their issues and learn to live on their own as contributing citizens to their communities. Upon graduation from the two-year program, veterans are then moved into their own apartment, but return to the center for ongoing counseling.

This year, MBAKS is proud to partner with the Veterans Center for Painting a Better Tomorrow 2018. Painting a Better Tomorrow, or PBT, is an annual one-day service event where association members and community volunteers add fresh paint to the walls and surfaces of a local nonprofit organization. This is where you come in. Even if you’re not a painter by trade, we want you to volunteer! There are plenty of tasks to keep you busy throughout the day and we can all but guarantee that you’ll have a fantastic time helping out a few of our well-deserving neighbors in need.

Volunteer—Just Do It!

Pull together a team of co-workers, friends, or family—or come as an individual and make some new friends and memories! MBAKS provides all the supplies for the event, including breakfast snacks and lunch, as well as our ever-popular, totally stylish PBT t-shirt so you look good while doing good. When you close the books on this project, your life, and those of the Shoreline Veterans Center, will be forever brighter.

Contact Michell Filleau-Maas, 425.460.8232, today, right now, to volunteer.

Step Up With Sponsorship

Over the years, we've painted hundreds of thousands of square feet of service organizations' walls. That wouldn't be possible without the help of our generous sponsors. If your company is interested in sponsoring a fresh coat of paint for the Veterans Center this year, contact Business Development Manager Ty Coleman, 425.278.0222 by October 10.

Photo courtesy Alabastro Photography

By My Edmonds News

Chermak Construction is going to be showing off one of its remodeled homes in Edmonds this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8 and 9, as part of the 2016 Remodeled Homes Tour.

USEPA photo by Eric Vance

LDC Inc. went to Washington, D.C. October 24 to advocate for sensible stormwater management regulations that lead to clean water for communities instead of mountains of paperwork.

Representing builders and developers who do business in Environmental Protection Agency Region 10, Clay White, principal planner, joined nine other NAHB members from across the country to meet EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his top local enforcement officials.

NAHB members suggested several ways EPA could improve the process, including:

• A simplified permit process for small lots. EPA's compliance template for single-family homes in large subdivisions that could also serve as a streamlined permit: it's concise and written in "builder language" because NAHB helped develop it.
• A "find it, fix it" approach. Rather than penalize first-time violators, EPA inspectors should provide compliance assistance during site visits and allow builders to correct minor infractions so they can do it right the next time.
• Better coordination among regulators. Multiple visits from local, state and federal inspectors to the same site can result in very different observations and citations. The EPA needs to allow the states, and not themselves, to play the lead role in stormwater enforcement.
• Continued participation in EPA's "Smart Sectors" Program. Homebuilders were invited to participate this business community partnership to develop sensible regulations while protecting the environment and public health.

White was pleased at EPA's response. "It was tremendous to meet with Administrator Pruitt and the EPA team on issues that are impacting our building community. I believe that this meeting will result in positive outcomes for the builders in our region."

For stormwater management resources, visit the NAHB Stormwater Toolkit.