It took a couple of weeks, but with tons of hard work from the staff and our flowers, the foster home looks like a home and is ready to open it’s doors.
Once again, I would like to thank my friends Lorna & Karen and my new recruits, Laurie, Ingrid & Kira for being such great helpers! You gals rock! If it wasn’t for all of you, I would have had to sleep there to get it all done.
Ingrid, Laurie & Kira hard at work
And of course, as always, Malia was extremely supportive.
Here are more flowers…
This was a wonderful experience. I will go up there occasionally to touch up the flowers and add more wherever/whenever they would like. Kira also wants to join me to help paint, or play with the kids. Sigh. That really makes me happy.
Susan
There are several things that I am passionate about… besides my aforementioned family.
I think it is incredibly important to be a volunteer. In whatever way each of us can do it, we need to give back. There are many perks to being a volunteer. You feel warm and fuzzy. You meet wonderful people. Sometimes you create relationships that will last a lifetime. Sometimes you meet wonderful people who will be in your life forever, because they made it possible to meet your daughter. I mentioned Linda in my adoption post. She is the amazing woman who literally changed my life forever. Linda asked me to help her with a project that is near and dear to her heart. Since I would do ANYTHING for Linda, I jumped on board when she said that they needed artwork for a new receiving home for children in foster care.
It was an interesting challenge. It had to be appealing to boys and girls in all age ranges. It also had to be painted on the walls.
We decided on flowers. Hawaiian flowers.
I brought in my dear friends who I met many years ago (yes, while volunteering) and we helped create a warm environment where children could come and feel safe and protected.
Here are some pics.
Before…
During…
and after…
On Saturday they had their open house and on April 1st they will be open for the children.
Please read the newspaper article to learn more:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903210324
And check out the news coverage:
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/15321/40/
Thanks goodness that there are people willing to invest so much time, money and energy into projects like this. I feel blessed to be a tiny part of such an outstanding project.
Bonus:
Besides feeling warm, fuzzy and energized, I got to spend time painting with my friends and met Yvonne and her staff, who went into an empty house full of boxes and bags last Monday and in one week, created new friendships and a home.
It really doesn’t get much better than this.
Susan
