PACA volunteers are in the third year of a long-term project of ensuring reuse of historic street and sidewalk pavers.  Volunteer effort fuels sorting of 9-pound street pavers and 5-pound sidewalk pavers from the piles of dirt they were deposited with after excavation.  The original use for the pavers was as Urbana streets and sidewalks dating from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.  Clean pavers are stacked on pallets ready to be sold at 50 cents for a street paver and 25 cents for a sidewalk paver.  Some of the pavers have been at the Urbana Public Works work yard in Northeast Urbana for twenty years, with more being added as brick streets and sidewalks are replaced with asphalt and concrete.

The paver salvage effort is spearheaded at PACA by Bob Swisher with support from Brian Duffield.  Both are members of the Board of Directors.  The volunteer effort is augmented by other PACA members and community service workers.  Special thanks to Bill May of the Champaign County Probation Adult Diversion Program.  PACA is also engaged with the Lincoln’s Challenge Program in Rantoul in efforts to obtain volunteer services of Cadets.

Paver sales income averages about $1,000/month, with total sales amounting to $37,500.  This income is used to support PACA programs such as the Heritage Grants that help community non-profits maintain historic properties or engage in educational efforts related to historic preservation.  Customers include residential as well as commercial buyers such as Town & Country Landscaping.