#MoveInDay #116
The day may have started with rain & gray skies, but it ended with sunshine & smiles!
Today, this stark & empty apartment finally became a home. What an incredible transformation for this Mother & her three young children. Not so long ago, they were living in a motel room after losing their home when their landlord sold the building they had been living in to a property management company that raised the rent by $400. They couldn’t afford the added cost and ended up in a motel, due to Covid the children couldn’t attend school all of last year so mom had to quit work to stay home to help them, the money ran out and they ended getting in touch with Housing Forward and living in a homeless shelter. After working hard to go through the proper protocols, this mom and her children were able to be placed into this apartment. The large three-bedroom, one-bath unit offered the space and safety this family needed, but was lacking in furniture and the other comforts of home. This Mom is currently raising three young children on her own while seeking employment. She lost her job in a nursing home when she needed to pivot to be at home last year with her children when they were remote learning. When we arrived at our first client meeting to arrange our #MoveInDay, she showed us around. She was quiet and apologetic, ‘embarrassed she couldn’t offer us a seat in her empty apartment’. We knew she was doing the best she could with what she had and just needed support. Other than a few kitchen items, beds, toys for the two-year-old, and a TV, they had nothing.
Today, she replaced embarrassment with dignity. She realized this bare apartment was now a home her family could be proud of. This beautiful space is filled with furnishings & essentials, new towels & sheets, pictures, pillows & throws, oh my! Her family no longer has to sit on the floor. Her family can share a meal at their kitchen table. And with the help of Zelda’s Kitchen Witches, this Mom now has a fabulous kitchen, fully equipped that anyone would dream about cooking in! Through much collaboration, the generous time of so many talented and creative volunteers and the vision from our design leads, Jen Holly and Mary Gibbons, this team of volunteers knocked it out of the park! Thank you to everyone who helped in fulfilling the Amazon Wish List, and for the many hours ‘ behind-the-scenes’ to make a dream come true. It takes a village and so many people who came together to make it happen. We appreciate each and every one of you!
Special thanks to Penny Kirschbaum of Kirschbaum's Bakery for the Welcome Home cake, delicious desserts & the home cookie decorating kit (she heard Mom & her kids love to bake!), and to all the talented & hard-working volunteers who came together today to make this a day this family will never forget! Design leads Jennifer Holly and @MaryPetersonGibbons (they worked SO hard on this, but it was worth it, it is so beautiful)!
Volunteers- Marilyn Cahill Betty Sloan Jeanine Kupec Ana Wilson James Krivicich and Sherry Kulhanek.
And a HUGE shout out to our muscle men, Marques Turner Sr and Tom “Apple”, who dropped everything to meet us at the apartment to unload the truck and help us with the heavy furniture lifting up two very long flights of stairs (our backs thank you!).
A HUGE THANK YOU to our angel friends at #ZeldasKitchenWitches for not only providing us with ALL of the kitchen items, but helping us as well! Janet Evans, @JanetKoliopoulis @SueMcErlean and @MariaVisvardis we LOVED meeting you and having you with us!!
And thank you to the guy who can assemble anything in record time, James bro of Peter Krivicich.
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