Every year, Concord, N.H.-based remodeler and home builder Cobb Hill Construction donates a project to a worthy local cause. Because most of the work is completed over a two-day period, the company recently decided to dub its annual project “Create in 48.”
Cobb Hill’s 2008 “Create in 48” project is a straightforward room addition to the small home of a single mother in Bow, N.H., whose 7-year-old child, Skylar, has Asperger’s syndrome and requires daily therapy. The project “appeared to be the right mix, especially with Skylar’s mom being a single parent who didn’t have a job. Her main mission in life is to take care of Skylar,” says Cobb Hill principal Jerry Kingwill. “It was clearly a circumstance where our assistance would make a major difference.”
Kingwill worked with Skylar’s mother to design a room addition for her tiny house that would provide a place to permanently set up the therapy and activity equipment that she had been setting up and packing away every day. It also would give Skylar enough room to burn off some of his energy.
Cobb Hill designed the room with 12-foot-tall ceilings and a dedicated 11-foot-by-11-foot area to accommodate a special suspended harness that allows Skylar to jump and swing or simply hover over an activity or game. An 8-foot-by-8-foot ball pit allows him to romp without getting hurt. A climbing apparatus is set up in one area of the room, as well as a fabric crawl tube. The 16-foot-by-24-foot addition means Skylar can now remain at home for many of his daily therapies and has room to jump and play safely.
Twenty-one of Cobb Hill’s staff participated in the two-day construction project, along with many other volunteers from the community, including several other contractors. Cobb Hill’s suppliers donated many of the materials for the project. Community service is an important part of Cobb Hill’s company culture. Company president Tom Avallone staunchly supports nonprofit organizations, according to Kingwill, and several of the company’s staff are active in community service organizations. “Where I grew up, community is a critical part of the fabric of life,” Kingwill notes.
Every year Cobb Hill donates between $50,000 and $75,000 through a variety of organizations, fundraisers, and charities, including United Way, the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club, local soup kitchens and other food programs, and childrens’ camps. Previous donated construction projects have included designing and building an exhibit space for Science Enrichment Encounters; constructing chairs and tables that are then painted by local artists and auctioned for charity through the Friends Program; a high school kitchen renovation for Project Second Start; display booths for a school fair; bookshelves for a school library, and many others.
“We work, we live, we shop, and we play in our community, and we rely on it for all the work we do. This is just our way of giving back to it for those who are less fortunate,” Kingwill says. “We feel it’s a critical piece in our longevity.”
