Seniors Help to Battle Energy Costs One Draft at a Time

RSVP volunteers, Helen Calder, Carolynn Cohron, Mary Thomas, Cecilia Miller, Beth James, and Anne Saunders. Not pictured: Andy Harper, and Mary Jackson.

Seniors at Laurel Woods Apartments in South Asheville helped launch the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program’s (RSVP), Simple Acts of Green Team in Buncombe County. Residents volunteered to stuff and decorate 17 draft-stoppers. RSVP calls them “draft-constrictors,” since they are decorated to resemble snakes. The completed “draft-constrictors have been donated to the Asheville-Buncombe Hands On to be distributed to families served by the Council on Aging and Meals on Wheels.

RSVP Coordinator Patti Cameron had this to say about the project.
“Draft-constrictors are a very simple act of green with a big impact on
our environment. Sealing drafts under doors and windows can save
anywhere from 5 percent to 30 percent on home energy costs. Plus, that
type of savings can offset close to 550 pounds of CO2 per home, which
means the volunteers at Laurel Woods helped stop 9,350 lbs of CO2 from
entering our environment.”

The RSVP Simple Act of Green Team is coming to Lakeview Senior
Center on Friday March 12 from 11 to 2 p.m. for a “lunch and learn”
workshop to make draft-stoppers, and learn more simple ways to stop
drafts in the home. A light lunch will be served, and participants will
be able to take a draft-stopper home with them.

If you are 55 year of age or older and are interested in
attending this workshop call Patti at the Land-of-Sky Regional
Council’s RSVP program at (828) 251-6622 or [email protected].