June 20, 2011 – Waltham, MA | Last week’s meeting was truly an exciting occasion for the New England Chapter of NADRA, with a number of firsts for our young Chapter. We kicked off the meeting with the introduction of the chapter’s inaugural Deck for a Soldier® recipient and his family. It was a very special moment and the soldier was truly surprised when he was presented with the announcement and the design options for his new deck.
 

Soldier and family with Ed Lenzi, Deck for a Soldier® Chair


 
Many thanks to the Chair of the D4S Committee – Ed Lenzi, and the committee members Otto Kinzel, Pete Ciaraldi, Seth Aronson, Scott Clifford, and Marc Merusi. Ed and his team will be reaching out to the members of the chapter to bring this project to a special completion over the next several weeks. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony once the project is complete – all members are invited – details to follow.

In addition to the D4S presentation, there was an educational (as well as entertaining) presentation by Steve Noon from Simpson Strong Tie – The topic was: “Code Compliant Deck Construction”.
 

 
Steve was able to tie in code compliance with the NADRA “Deck Evaluation Checklist” (see attached)The focus was on theme with the NADRA’s “Deck Safety Month®” campaign and the recent article in LBM Journal | May/June 2011 (see attached). Many thanks to Steve for a great presentation as well as for his valuable time
 

 
DeckExpo is happening October 13-15 in Chicago. NADRA is the main sponsor of DeckExpo and will hold their annual meeting during these dates. A number of chapters are putting together plans to attend. NADRA will hold their National Deck Competition, Annual Meeting, Awards Ceremony and Education during DeckExpo. Please consider adding this important event to your calendar!

For additional information, check out the website http://www.deckexpo.com/

Our next chapter meeting will be in September. Over the summer the various committees will meet to develop an exciting program and launch this fall. Please have a safe and wonderful summer!

Frederick Aldrich
President, NE Chapter NADRA