James Van Raden, a veteran of the US armed services (Marines Echo company 1/2/5) and a builder in Minnesota and North Dakota is asking for support in a grant competition he is competing in through Pepsi. This is an opportunity for him to win a grant that will allow him start building affordable housing for chemically injured veterans and their families all across the United States.
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James Van Raden
Here’s the link to learn more about the program and his efforts to build healthy, affordable housing for veterans: http://www.refresheverything.com/affordablemcshousing
This competition goes on all month and you get a total of 10 votes to use per day/per project. In other words, you can vote for 10 different projects per day per email address every day of the month. According to James, this does not cost anything and there are no donating strings attached, it’s just a way to vote for an idea which you support.
Thanks for your consideration of this and best of luck to James and his idea for healthy affordable housing!
ps. There are other ideas worthy of your vote as well and since you can vote everyday for up to 10 projects, please be sure to review the comments here for other worthy ideas and take a moment to review the other concepts on the Pepsi Competition Page.
About the Author
Andrew Morison is a specialist in straw bale and green construction. He has shown thousands of people how to build their own straw bale projects through his comprehensive series of instructional straw bale, concrete foundation, and plastering DVDs. You can check these out at www.LearnStrawBale.com..
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April 2nd, 2010 at 8:01 am
Hi Andrew! This particular story caught my eye. I also am participating in the Pepsi Refresh Project and you have published some inaccurate information! The voting for ideas is open everyday for one full month. People have the opportunity to vote for their favorite ideas. You are allowed 10 votes per day for 10 different ideas. Therefore someone can vote for James’ idea every single day of that month, plus 9 other ideas too. However, you cannot use all 10 of your daily votes for one idea, but you can vote for the same idea very single day!
This month, my idea got submitted for approval by Pepsi, and voting will open May 1 – May 31. To be submitted is extremely lucky, as Pepsi is only accepting 1,000 ideas per month and this month, the submission period closed after just 30 minutes!
My idea is to build an EcoLodge in Mt. Shasta, California, with Straw Bale construction! My finance and I have been planning this business for a year now and are at the final stages of securing financing. We visited two straw bale homes in Mendocino, Ca. and met with the contractor who built them. We were completely inspired when we saw them and have been doing research on straw bale construction ever since. After telling our friends about the experience, we noticed an overwhelming excitement for straw bale construction because most people have not ever heard of it. Shasta EcoLodge would be the first lodging made of straw bale in California. Please support my idea and help me gain votes for the month of May by posting a blog about my idea!
You can go ahead and check out my Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shasta-EcoLodge/182372991454?ref=ts, to get more information on our project! Thanks for your help and support!
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 am
I just voted and posted the link to my Facebook profile.
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:33 am
Taylour, thank you for the correction. I’ll be sure to edit the original post to reflect this.
Also, your project sounds great! Now that I know I can vote for two projects, you get a vote from me as well! Hopefully others will also vote and support what you;re creating too.
Andrew
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:22 am
i have been disabled with chemical intolerance, multiple chemical sensitivity, environmental illness, whatever you choose to call it, for 15 years, in that time i have not been able to find a suitable apartment to rent, or low income home to buy that is low toxic or non toxic. there is one apartment complex in san rafal california, it has a 10 year waiting list and has not accepte new applications in over 14 years. i am desperate, as i wach my health deteriorate over the years, except that brief period were i lived at a holistic health institute, i saw myself getting healthy, untill i had to return to real life in the real world, i am tired of being a shut in, i am sick of being homeless, just because i can’t find a safe, chemical free home to live in. no, i am not a vet. there is nothing out there for any of us right now, keep the rest of us, who have been suffering silently for decades, in mind, while you go throught this progect, please
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:51 am
Great point Penelope. Thanks for sharing your story and reminding us of the need for this type of housing, not just for vets, but for all who need it.
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Here’s an update from James on the positioning of his project:
Just wanted to let you all know that the project continues to fall and fall fast. We are in 92nd place and started in 86th this morning. Please take a minute to visit and vote and invite others to do so also.
The link to vote for this again is http://www.facebook.com/l/e3a25;www.refresheverything.com/affordablemcshousing
Without your support this project will fail so it is in your hands not mine.
Take care everyone and more updates to come each day and I hope that everyone has a great weekend with family and friends.
James