As a Durham home builder, we’ve volunteered with about 15 local organizations over the years. We’ve built with Habitat for Humanity, cooked dinner for families at Ronald McDonald House and The Caring House, and planted trees in a Durham park. And every November since 2021, we’ve filled a van with food for neighbors who need it.

Why We Show Up

For us, it comes back to a simple idea: there wouldn’t be homes to build without a community to build them in. We want the Triangle to be a place people are excited to live, and if that means a little job security for us along the way, we’ll take it. Building is a relationship business. People build with people, and we want to be known as much for our relationships as for our homes.

Years ago, owner Jeff Grau sponsored a local youth football team. One of the players’ moms took note, and when she needed a bathroom redone, she made a point of calling us. She came back for a second project, a kitchen that was one of the first Jennifer Hutton of Grau Design Studio, designed after moving to North Carolina. We didn’t sponsor the team to find clients, but that’s how it tends to work around here: you show up, people get to know you, and some of them stick around for a long time.

Why We Spread it Around

We’d rather spread the wealth than commit to just one organization. There are so many good groups in the Triangle doing so many different kinds of work that it would be a shame to pick favorites. Spreading it around also means we meet more people, and they get to see our crew in action, whether we’re cooking a meal, cleaning up a river or doing demo. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Some volunteer days call on our construction skills. We volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in summer 2023, and in March 2024 the crew helped the Durham Rescue Mission start rehabbing one of its transitional homes by laying underlayment, installing cabinets and working on windows and siding.

Other days don’t involve a hammer at all. In fall 2023, we cooked a healthy dinner for the residents of The Caring House. At Ronald McDonald House, with a list of recipes, a few grills and some music, we made more than 50 meals for guests and their families.

The morning that’s stuck with the team most was a chilly one in March, when we joined Keep Durham Beautiful at Forest Hills Park. We pulled invasive plants, cleaned up the area and planted native trees that will be monitored over the coming years. A hundred years from now, one of those trees could still be standing, which is a pretty good return on one morning.

Fill-a-Van, the One We Bring Back Every Year

Of everything we do, Fill-a-Van is the one we keep coming back to. It started in 2021 and has grown every year since, taking on a life of its own along the way. 

Food insecurity affects more people than many of us realize, including families right here in the Triangle, and the number of organizations working on it shows just how much need there is. Here’s how the van has filled up so far:

• 2021: 800 pounds for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina
• 2022: 1,175 pounds for the Durham Community Food Pantry
• 2023: 2,175 pounds for Durham Rescue Mission
• 2024: 3 full pallets of food and supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery
• 2025: 6,612 pounds for PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro

That’s 10,762 pounds of food across four drives, plus the Helene pallets.

It takes all of us to pull it off, from collecting to shopping to weighing to delivering, and we lean on vendors, subs and clients too, which makes it less of a typical food drive and more of a team-building exercise. Clients like knowing we’re helping out and plenty of them want to get involved just as much as we do.

So we spread the word every way we can. We put flyers up at the office for anyone walking by, repost everything, and ask our partners and beneficiaries to share it too. If they’d let us, we’d probably put a neon sign out front.

Adding Venmo last year was a game changer. We no longer have to keep track of checks and cash, and we’ve been able to connect with friends and family outside the area, share the link on social media and reach a much wider audience. Our accountant will tell you setting it up caused a handful of gray hairs, but it was worth it.

Year Six: Filling the Van for TABLE

This year we’re teaming up with Wegmans again to fill the van for TABLE, which keeps kids in Chapel Hill and Carrboro fed all year long. Like every year, the goal is to beat last year’s record, which means topping 6,612 pounds.

We’ll take any donation, food or money, but money goes the furthest. Because we buy in bulk, every dollar stretches, and it lets us shop for exactly what’s on TABLE’s wish list. Since TABLE feeds kids, they ask for foods that meet their nutrition guidelines, and they can also take fresh food, which not every beneficiary has had room for.

Here’s how to give:

• Venmo @graubuilding and we’ll do the shopping for you.
• Mail a check payable to Grau Building Company to 1515 W NC Hwy 54 #120, Durham, NC 27707.
• Drop off non-perishable food at our office by November 12.

We’ll tally the final count and make our delivery in mid-November, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Let’s fill that van!