"I have such fond memories of my Habitat days, stretching back to 1993 when for the first time I wandered onto the Build-A-Thon site on 105th in Oakland as a volunteer contractor," says Dave Sylvester. He remembers with a laugh how the site supervisors at the time, Paul and Roger, "handed me a yellow shirt and a set of plans, put me in charge of two new homeowners and 25 volunteers, and said, 'See you later!'" Thankfully, Dave was eager and willing to step into uncharted territory, and his Habitat story began. "What a day," he recalls. "The positive energy was palpable and infectious. I was hooked."
So much so that he became the legacy East Bay Habitat for Humanity affiliate's Construction Director in 2001, a role he served in until 2006.
One of his favorite Habitat memories is one that has had an indelible impact on the trajectory of our work ever since: forming the "Green Team." That core group of staff and volunteers led by Dave was the spark that lit our green building efforts over 20 years ago.
After Habitat received a donated brownfield property in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland in 2001, Dave remembers embarking on the green building journey in earnest. "I was chomping at the bit for the opportunity to work with green architects and be part of the team to bring this concept to life," he says. Along with the Green Team, Dave networked with other consultants to "geek out on the many ideas and somehow wrestle them into a working green building model. We poured a lot of ideas into new Habitat details for the Fruitvale development, like advanced framing, insulated headers, coal ash in concrete, recycled paint, passive solar orientation, photovoltaic systems, recycling and reuse of construction waste, locally milled eucalyptus flooring, reclaimed timbers from the Oakland Army base, and more."
Dave was devoted because he believed sustainability was critical. "It was an opportunity to lower utility bills for Habitat homeowners," he says. Plus, "It would lessen our overall impact on the environment, in what is traditionally a wasteful and energy-intensive field of work."
Those early days — monthly evening meetings, nervous presentations to skeptical inspectors, a field trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains to claim solar hot water panels donated by a farm, and plenty of experimentation — were the roots of a decades-long commitment to combining sustainability with affordability.
Today, Dave is enjoying a well-earned retirement and his current job title, Grandpa. He sees how Habitat has grown our green-building efforts into all-electric, Zero Net Energy developments with the latest in climate-forward technology. "I am deeply inspired and proud of the many individuals who helped realize this concept, recognized its benefits, and continued exploring and applying innovative ideas," he says. "It's all resulted in green building becoming a standard across the organization."