Many of our loyal blogfans know that the staff of the Trust love our jobs, and we enjoy the fact that every day is different. We have celebrations, challenges and heartaches that our staff of two tackles every day. That said, we thought we would offer you a snapshot into our daily life... because Kristi is on vacation today, the schedule below follows Rebecca through her day:
9 am: Arrive at work, listen to 7 voicemails (including 3 calls about the kudzu cleanup and one phone call from Kay of Greeneville, TN, thanking us for our time last Thursday). Check fax machine.
9:10am: Visit from new homeowner Erin, who has come bearing a level and thank you card for contractor Steve West. We chat about her exciting progress in unpacking, IKEA curtains, and outlet mall finds. I love that Erin is so happy about her home and hope she can get internet installed soon!
9:15am: Check emails (too many to count) and write various answers, schedule various meetings, and sign us up for a Green Building Seminar next Thursday.
9:25am: Meet with impromptu prospective buyer Mark (transplant from NJ) and talk about houses in the Hampton Heights area. This meeting is interrupted by one of our tenants, Joe, who has come to pay rent. We resume our discussion and talk about homeownership classes.
9:40am: Yet another walk in; this fellow has been working at the Beta Club headquarters down the street and is curious about the neighborhood. We talk about the history and architecture and I give him a folder with lots of information, maps, etc and tell him to definitely check out the holiday tour of Hampton Heights during the first weekend of December.
9:57am: I write down that we need to buy more folders for walk-ins and other interested parties...we are out!
10:15am: A guy comes in to the office looking for Jean (with PAL) and has some bike stuff for her!
10:30am: Contractor Steve West comes in for a visit. This is bittersweet. He is delivering his final invoice for work. He is a fabulous builder and wonderful person who is retiring...we talk about his plans and how he needs to get into a physical therapist for that disk problem in his neck.
11:30am: Kristi calls to check in. It is great to hear that Saturday's kudzu spraying went well, even if there was not enough herbicide for the 4 acres. We plan to do something nice for the applicator and DOW chemical contact who donated their time and herbicide to the cause.
12:15pm to 1:20pm: Off to lunch. The office is closed....seriously, we have to eat sometime!
1:30pm: Two voicemails when I return. One is a tenant with a broken front door (call to contractor to follow up and fix the glass!); the other is Dawn with Spartanburg Water who calls about setting up an account for the warehouse space (salvage store). It seems the owner of the building feels we will be setting up and paying for account. Grrr...we were not expecting this.
2:20pm: Visit from Wanda with Weichert Realtors. She will be listing 266 West Hampton Avenue and wanted to know about special financing, National Register status and down payment assistance. We are always super happy when realtors come our way and use us as a resource. Wanda and I chat about the great people who live in the neighborhood and the positive changes in the past few years. She asks if I think it will ever be like Converse Heights. If I had a dollar for every time someone tries to make this comparison...it is a bit like comparing Spartanburg to Greenville...which I don't want to do...
3:00pm: Start this blog, which makes me late for my 3:30 to 5pm Mary Black Foundation OCB meeting, so this is where my day ends.
A Day in the Life of a Trust Staffer. Rewarding. Interesting. Never a dull moment!
Last week, Trust staff took a roadtrip to participate in the yearly conference of the Southeast Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians (SESAH), held in Greensboro, North Carolina. We love a good roadtrip (despite gas prices) to a city we have never been, and Greensboro proved to be rich in history and somewhat preservation-minded. It had three historic districts, a walkable downtown with a fabulous Kress building and historic Woolworth store (made famous for its lunch counter sit-in of1960, sparking numerous other sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement).
through their 25,000 square foot building, fielding questions, letting us admire Bessie (their 1955 Ford pickup truck and mobile advertising), showing us tools and how to use them, discussing prices and policies...an absolutely wonderful 
opportunity with an incredibly insightful individual. Seeing the success of ASG inspired us to think big and get creative! Hopefully you will see some evidence of our learning at the nest SAS opening on November 1. We are "recylcing" a bunch of ASG's ideas to implement in our operation and offer a huge thank you to them for sharing their successes, materials, and enthusiasm.
This got our wheels turning...what if we asked our staff, board members and friends to do the same the next time they travel and/or visit a landmark?
The Trust staff can finally claim construction experience on our personal resumes! Yesterday, we headed to our restoration project at 276 Hydrick Street to assist the contractor with assembly of the kitchen cabinets from IKEA. Kristi has recent experience installing IKEA cabinets in her own kitchen, so her knowledge was put to great use!
IKEA's cabinets come in flat boxes, so "assembly required"is an understatement. The contractor had already installed the cabinet frames in the kitchen. Trust staff, along with Erin (the future homeowner), put together drawers first. We then assembled the hinges. After lunch we started to install the tracts for the drawers and hang the doors. It was rewarding work to see the cabinetry come together.
We officially have a contract for 232 Hydrick Street, the former residence of Governor I.C. Blackwood! We will close by the end of July and begin work on the severely decayed home ASAP. We are so lucky to have a photograph of the home from the 1983 National Register application (see left)and are seeking other photos to further allow us to restore using original details.
