Community Foundation of Monterey County Award
Hastings was recently awarded a grant of $6,000 from the Community Foundation of Monterey County to purchase a small backhoe that attaches to our tractor. This is an incredibly useful and cost-effective tool for Hastings, and we really appreciate it. As Hastings has a lot of plumbing in the ground from the 1930's, we are always chasing a leak here and there. Formerly, this meant either a great deal of backbreaking digging, or having to wait for days for local contractors to leave far more lucrative jobsites. Sometimes we had to close some housing as repairs on the pipelines were delayed. We immediately put the attachment to work on a long-standing open trench at the Robertson House, covering pipes fixed last fall. Our latest project is to wire the Hastings weather station to the local computer network. This required about 80 feet of trenching; something Jaime DeValle was able to get done in a couple of hours, even with the roots of the old pine tree we had to take down near the Fanny Arnold Classroom. Here are some photos of the Kubota backhoe at work. Thanks to the donors and staff at the Community Foundation. Your investment will go far in keeping the education and research programs going here at Hastings.