We feel the challenges faced in our community every day as we work to build a better community. In today’s climate, there is a shortage of affordable housing, flexible childcare, efficient transportation options, and food accessibility challenges. We know these problems can be solved and there are good people determined to find solutions, but complications continue to hinder progress. These are not simple challenges, but rather systemic problems with many challenges and barriers to face before finding a solution. We want to be a part of the solution and believe that paying a living wage is essential to building a healthy, vibrant, and livable community. Thus, we are encouraging business owners to begin the journey of paying a living wage and spread the message about its importance.
The Harrisonburg Rockingham Living Wage Certification serves to enhance the health, vitality, and livability of our community. Foundationally, our team at Gaines Group Architects strives to build a better community through design, this guides our decisions in projects, pro-bono work, and where we invest our time and resources. Our mission gives us a baseline in accomplishing business ethically and with care, which led us to learn more about obtaining the Living Wage Gold Certification. We understand there is a relationship between thriving team and community members who feel valued for their contributions and the subsequent positive impacts on our client’s experience.
As an architecture firm, we exceeded the baseline for gold-level certification without modifying pay scales. The process of learning about the impacts of paying a fair wage gave us the opportunity to engage in intentional and clarifying discussions concerning our most valuable asset: our team members. We are accustomed to adjusting pay rates along with advancement in careers and inflation, but this was the first time we discussed what it takes to live comfortably in a community. Some of the areas we identified as essential in promoting quality of life ranged from access to childcare, the ability to pay utility bills, or appropriately budget for groceries.
Paying a living wage directly affects the overall community and supports a robust local economy. There is a chain reaction that occurs when we invest in our workforce, and we encourage all businesses in Harrisonburg and Rockingham to consider this certification. Even if your organization is unable to currently meet the standard, it will open up a thoughtful conversation about the cost of living in our community. For more information on this program, visit www.hrlivingwage.org or watch the video here https://www.facebook.com/hrlivingwage/videos/387194656280216/.
Rotary is celebrating a birthday. This organization founded by Paul Harris on February 23, 1905, is 115 today!! With a core mission of #serviceaboveself, these business leaders in Chicago set out to build a better community. Using their influence and power they used service, the act of reaching out and helping others, and a way to bring business leaders together for the greater good.
Rotary is #serviceaboveself
Locally we have a variety of Rotary Clubs doing good in our community while Rotary international works on their core mission of eradicating Polio worldwide. The 7 pillars of Rotary include Peace and conflict prevention/resolution, disease prevention and treatment, water and sanitation, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, economic and community development, and sustainability. Rotary is open to everyone to join. Most clubs have weekly meetings including a meal to build community within the club members and have a speaker usually telling us about local organizations or activities. These weekly meetings bring us together and allow us to better know each other and our community.
I encourage you to look at the local Rotary Clubs in your area, each has a different vibe, and find the right fit to magnify your service in your community. Want to visit our breakfast club next Tuesday at 7 a.m.? Just reach out to me and I am happy to have you as my guest.
Happy Birthday Rotary! Thanks to all Rotarians for putting #serviceaboveself.
The Gaines Group is proud to once again partner with Habitat for Humanity of the New River Valley on the construction of new townhomes in Floyd, Virginia. Our firm has a strong history supporting projects in partnership with Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the Commonwealth and has made significant contributions to projects in Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Green, and Rockingham Counties.
The Floyd County Project is Gaines Group’s third effort partnering with Habitat for Humanity of the New River Valley. This project will be a 7-unit block similar in scope and size to the Blacksburg Project we completed in 2020. Our special partnership grows out of the time the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford towns played host to firm founder Ray Gaines while studying at Virginia Tech School of Architecture. To date, our firm has helped provide shelter for nine families in the area who will own their dwellings. Additionally, our firm’s work in the New River Valley includes the Adams at Peppers Ferry, a multi-family project of 168 units located in Christiansburg.
Beyond designing for comfortable living spaces, these completed projects are EarthCraftCertified and the Floyd County townhomes are slated to be as well. We are passionate about using design to positively impact our communities while upholding our commitment to designing for the future. Our partnership with Habitat for Humanity is a testament to these values.
As an architect, I am trained to think about problems–the things that are not working–and develop solutions to fix them. Design matters, and through design, we can build a better future. This requires trust, hope, faith, and experience. You must learn from your past experiences, and I think you must be very skilled at using empathy. However, empathy is a two-edged sword. As you improve your design skills by increasing your ability to feel what others are feeling, you also open yourself up to feeling deeply the tragic evils that happen in our world.
At times it feels like the evils of the world are overwhelming, and this week was one of those times. When evil strikes your community, impacts your friends, hurts good people, and changes forever a peaceful place, it is hard to take. I am not just talking about the evil that makes national news; I am talking about the little comments you make about others that hurt. I am talking about people who are willing to take advantage of someone who has given them a second chance. I am talking about dishonest, unethical, and evil behaviors that all compound how hard life can be on a daily basis. The little things build into big hurts.
It was a hard week here in the valley for so many people.
Fortunately, these evils are not the majority in our world; they just get amplified as they compound. There is more good in our community than there is bad. There are more honest people who do want to see others succeed than there are people willing to take advantage of others. There are empathetic, compassionate, good people in this community. We need to celebrate them, celebrate joy, hope, and love a little louder and not let the evil get the amplification.
We need to celebrate joy, hope, and love; and what better time to do it than today, tomorrow, and this coming week? I am going to do my best to be optimistic about our future and to focus on the good, please join me.
We highly recommend travelers who frequent Interstate 81 to check out the new Petro Truck stop in Raphine! The expansion and improvements being made here are impressive. This facility will be one of the largest truck stops on the East coast and houses a wide variety of food and shopping options. We teamed up with Nielsen Builders to design the latest renovation and addition which will provide 27,160 square feet of additional retail space.
The existing Iron Skillet restaurant at Petro is being converted into a convenience-type store that will have the largest drink cooler we have ever seen. This destination is the perfect stop for rest and relaxation for travelers, especially for big rig drivers as there will be many options available to customize your truck, take a break, and eat.
The Petro project is being done using a design-build model in partnership with the property owner and Nielsen Builders as the primary contract holder. This construction contract type has many advantages for a complex, industrial-type renovation project, where the facility needs to stay operational during construction. This project requires a high level of coordination between contributors to ensure the unified goals are met. We deliver high levels of coordination through numerous design meetings that bring together civil, electrical, plumbing, architecture, HVAC, and general contractors. The results are a testament to our focus on collaboration from initial concept to completion!
