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The February HTC Community Hero of the Month is Dr. Alan Todd, philosophy and religious studies lecturer at Coastal Carolina University where he specializes in the history of Judaism. Todd is also an archaeology historian and executive director of the Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project.

Todd was nominated as HTC Community Hero of the Month for his dedication and commitment to preserving local architectural history, reinvesting the value of historic building materials by building them back into our local communities and ultimately bringing people together by building relationships between people, places and our planet.

Todd moved to Horry County in 2016 and moved to downtown Conway in 2019. While he was renovating his own home, he started realizing how many old, historic buildings and structures were in the area. During the COVID-19 pandemic while renovating his house, Todd dug up the floor and discovered the natural hardwood floors.

That鈥檚 when he went to Re:Purpose Savannah to try to find materials that he could utilize in his house. He met the director of Re:Purpose Savannah and that鈥檚 when Todd learned about an organization with the purpose of salvaging, deconstructing and reusing historic materials from buildings.

He saw how successful this idea was working in another community, so he decided to try it in Horry County.

When Todd saw old wood abandoned on the side of the road he would collect it.

鈥淚 started on my own, just collecting as much as I could,鈥� Todd said.

Todd came up with the idea that everyone can come together as a community and focus on saving and preserving materials used for historic structures and landmarks. Doing so could help the community tell the stories of the buildings once the structures are no longer there.

What he believed started out as a crazy idea of saving old wood. At the heart of the idea was the real problem the community was facing: a divided community.

鈥淚 believe we have to change to bring people together for the common good,鈥� he said.

In addition to reclaiming and saving old wood, the purpose of the project is to bring humans together to work together reaching a common goal.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just been a joy to watch,鈥� he said.

Rebuilding with old wood and materials, Todd also finds old, historical wood and material in landfills for reuse.

Together as a group, they have been able to work to preserve historic properties in downtown Conway and surrounding areas.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been just beautiful watching the community come together over what was a crazy idea,鈥� he said.

This August will officially mark two years that Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project became a nonprofit organization. The organization has worked on seven properties that include houses, commercial buildings and tobacco barns.

Two key members of the Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project that assist Todd on the day-to-day of running the operation are his wife, Sara Keever, who serves as material management executive and Justin Brownlee, who serves as vice president of the organization and permaculture specialist.

Keever helps deconstruct structures and is in charge of materials. She helps keep the group organized. Brownlee is Todd鈥檚 鈥渞ight-hand man鈥� in the organization, he said, and is involved in deconstructing structures and processing materials.

Engineering students at CCU also help out with Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project. The students are working to redesign a roof at one of the properties they鈥檙e working on to make it a green roof system. In a green roof, the roof acts as a sponge and any water that is not caught on the roof will flow to a green house and ultimately flow into a community garden. The goal is to create a self-sustaining community garden.

If you鈥檙e interested in being involved, the organization is always needing volunteers and accepting monetary donations.

鈥淰olunteers are always needed,鈥� Todd said. 鈥淲e have so much to do.鈥�

They are hoping to have a physical location soon, Todd said.

Todd wants people to know that the organization can salvage materials that have been on the ground for over 50 years. Their hope is that anyone that has a property that is too old or has to be demolished that they reach out to the Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project first so they can save what they can before it ends up in a landfill.

For more information or to learn more about Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project visit . Be sure to follow them on Facebook at Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project or on Instagram at conway_salvage.

HTC will make a $350 donation to the Whittemore Racepath Historical Society and a $100 Amazon gift card to Alan for being our chosen Hero of the Month. To make your nominations for the HTC Community of the Month, visit .

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