Minnesota Food Share – March Food Campaign

The Victory Neighborhood Association will once again partner with Northpoint Health and Wellness in the March Food Drive Campaign. Food donated during March and collected by April 2, will qualify to be matched in pounds and dollars. The goal for North Point and all of its partners is 60, 000 lbs of food and cash. Northpoint will be placing food donation barrels in various Victory businesses and picking up the donations on a regular basis. Watch for signs marking donation sites at businesses in our neighborhood.

Green Home Improvement Loans Available!

The Victory Neighborhood Association is making $73,000 of NRP funds available to Victory residents for "green" exterior and interior home improvements. Our 1920s to 1940s vintage homes are beautiful but many are energy inefficient. The Home Improvement Loan Program (HILP) is designed to encourage environmentally friendly, sustainable and energy efficient home improvements that meet certain "green" standards. In addition applicants will be required to secure an energy audit and include the results of the audit with their application materials. Homeowners will also have the option of pursuing, MN Green Star Certification of their home improvement project and if they are successful in obtaining certification they can have a portion of their loan forgiven.

The maximum loan amount is $15,000 per household with a loan rate of 3%. The Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMHC) will administer the program through the Housing Resource Center Northwest at 2148 44th Ave. N. Complete applications will be processed by GMHC on first come, first serve basis as funds are available until all program funds are committed. Applications are available from the Housing Resource Center at 612-588-3033 or the ViNA Office, 612-529-9558

Reduce Yard and Garden and Household Toxins Workshop on March 20

Maintaining our yards and cleaning our homes, can mean being exposed to chemicals in many ways. Simple changes in our usual practices can reduce our long-term exposures to potentially harmful substances—possibly save us money.

In this workshop we will identify toxins that we may use in our homes or gardens, how to use and dispose of them properly and safely, and how to reduce one's use of them. The workshop will be held Saturday, March 20, 2010 from 9am to 11am at Webber Park Recreation Center, 4400 Dupont Avenue North. The workshop is free and open to all Hennepin County residents but there will be a $5 supply fee if you wish to make and take home a non-toxic household cleaner. Please register for the workshop by calling the ViNA office at 612-529-9558 by Friday, March 19.

Let's Go Green and support ViNA!

LetsGoGreen.biz is an on-line one stop resource for many green products such as cleaning products, recycled paper products, compostable plates, water saving devices and energy saving lighting. In addition when an order is submitted through the LetsGoGreen.biz website, ViNA supporters can select the organization from the fundraiser menu and designate 25% of the sale directly to the Victory Neighborhood Association. Go Green and support the Victory Neighborhood Association at the same time!

Reserve an Energy Meter Now

The Victory Neighborhood Association has four energy meters, which are available for check out from the neighborhood office. The meters are easy to use – just plug the meter into the wall socket and then plug your device or appliance into the meter. The meter will display how much energy is being consumed, and if you enter the cost per kilowatt hour, how much the device or appliance costs to operate. You can check out a meter for one week with a photo ID.

Energy consumption in the United States has skyrocketed in the past decades, as has the cost per kilowatt. We now use more electricity-consuming stuff around the house, such as multiple televisions, computers, DVD players, and game consoles. Also, many electronic devices, rechargers, and appliances draw power even when they're switched off or not in use, and though it may seem trivial, this "phantom load" can add up to between 5 and 20 percent of the energy use of a typical household.

You can use a simple energy meter to check how much electricity a device in your home uses and to calculate how much it costs to operate each year.