On Tuesday, November 17 over 300 salesforce.com customers, employees, friends and partners were instrumental in the creation of southeast San Francisco’s first environmental education facility that is a 100% off-the-grid building, modeling solar power and alternative wastewater technologies. The Dreamforce 2009 Volunteer Event was led by Rebuilding Together San Francisco, Literacy for Environmental Justice, and the Salesforce.com Foundation and sponsored by Motorola, AMC Technology, Exponent, and KPMG.
Volunteers arrived at the EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park ready for an action-packed day geared around transforming a neighborhood that once served as a dumping ground for toxic industries. The volunteers joined together to accomplish months of work within one day and helped push home a project that has been in the works for 11 years. Bye-bye smokestacks and toxic industries. Hello "off- grid" living.
As part of salesforce.com's ongoing commitment to sustainability, this event provided an ideal opportunity to partner with the local community to create a hands-on learning center. The design of the center was influenced by 400 local high school students. Nearly every feature of this 1,500-square-foot facility is innovative and will be used to educate the public about renewable energy, pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, green building materials, and the green economy.
The determination and teamwork of the volunteers was impressive – they landscaped, painted the building, installed cabinetry, constructed wetlands, designed and installed permeable pathways around the classroom, built sign holders, benches and planters, and designed and created a mosaic tile wall. After over a decade spent planning the center, and now in the final phases of construction, the EcoCenter at Bayview Hunters Point will be the first environmental education facility in southeast San Francisco, a green landmark in Bayview Hunters Point.
"This workday is bringing us a thousand hours closer to opening the EcoCenter’s doors,” said Malik Looper, executive director of Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ). “The EcoCenter is a source of great pride in our community, and we welcome the contribution of Rebuilding Together and all those who want to build a more sustainable future for our youth.” The center sits at the foot of the now closed PG&E Hunters Point Power Plant. “LEJ’s EcoCenter will help build a new resource for Bayview Hunters Point youth as well as providing critical environmental education resources for the whole Bay Area,” added LEJ Board president, Deanna Rossi.
This workday is the largest that RTSF has hosted in its 20-year history. “This is the perfect project, and salesforce.com is the perfect partner,” said Karen Nemsick, RTSF’s executive director.
