Project H.O.M.E.- New Life Center, Phoenix, AZ

Hi Fellow DANA Members,

This is Deb Fahey of Maple Valley Interiors in Phoenix, AZ. My associates and I are working on a couple projects at New Life Center, a domestic violence shelter. The residents here, come at the last minutes' notice, gathering their children and leaving all their belongings behind. You can imagine that these women and children are so emotionally wrought that even the smallest everyday item is appreciated. But what is most needed is bedding. You see, as the residents leave the shelter to start a new life, they take the bedding with them, creating a bedding need for the next family that arrives. This occurs every 4 months as residents are only allowed to stay this long. In this 4 month period New Life Center gives them assistance and guidance to find a job and locate new housing, and prepares them emotionally to reenter the outside world. It is a wonderful thing that they do- SAVE LIVES!!!

New Life Center is in the process of expanding their facility, adding another 20 twin beds, providing shelter to 104 women and children at a time. Should you have in your possession twin size bedding - sheets, pillows, blankets, quilts, comforters... that you would like to donate or you know of a company that is interested in making a charitable donation of bedding, please contact me at deb@maplevalleyinteriors.com.

I wish you all success with your projects as well and hope that I may one day be able to return the favor.

Thank you,
Deb

Akron, OH Project H.O.M.E – We Are Underway!

DANA member, Sandra DeLong of Inviting Interiors, LLC and a group of community volunteers, has partnered with Shelter Care, a private, non-profit agency in her community. Shelter Care is a residential program for children, between the ages of 6 and 18, who manifest emotional, behavioral, or family adjustment problems. A continuum of residential care ranging from short-term crisis intervention, through intermediate or respite care, to long-term care in route to independent living, is the noteworthy contribution of Shelter Care to the community.

Shelter Care provides long-term residential treatment delivery through their Shelter Home Program. Each shelter home is staffed with a full-time, live-in married couple. The family model is designed to provide stability in the child’s life and to teach responsible living. Through the model of housing children in sheltered homes throughout the community, the kids are provided physical and emotional stability while they are taught responsible living.

My relationship with Shelter Care began after my meeting with their Executive Director, Mr. Wes Fair, PhD. Following my meeting, a Shelter Home project target was selected in Akron, Ohio. The choice of Akron was appropriate for the project because it will benefit the greatest number of girls! I discovered that all girls in the residential program live at my project residence on a rotating schedule. I think this will give our project great exposure!

At our Shelter Home, a brick Tudor style house, my target is their third floor TV/craft room. This expansive room has two dormers and a super quirky roof line.

My “must have” design elements include:
* seating for 6 to 8 people for conversation and TV /movie viewing
* areas for arts,crafts, sewing & quilting projects
* storage for all the supplies

My design will incorporate some built-in seating that doubles as storage. Storage is SO important because of the varied and numerous supplies needed for sewing, scrap booking, knitting, crocheting and jewelry making. I will be paying particular attention to scale, storage and being true to the architecture of our space.

Currently the project space is a cramped collection of unrelated items and lacks cohesive storage. Lighting is not conducive to the function of the space. The project goal is to design a comfortable well organized room where the girls who stay at this home can relax. I hope to create a sense of family and enhance developing social skills. Yes, I want to achieve all this while still allowing the girls to express their creativity and build confidence by crafting! To Climb Higher ... Dream Taller!

Shelter Care shares my lofty goals in their plans for children under their care. They want to promote establishment of achievable goals in the following areas: Personal growth, relationships family relationships, school and/or work adjustment, and a graceful, planned exit from the program.

My vision for this project is to provide a super space in which to advance Shelter Care’s objectives. I believe a person’s environment is as equally important to their self image as it is to their well being!

Currently, Inviting Interiors is finalizing the floor plan and developing a design board to be approved by Shelter Care. We hope to achieve necessary approvals soon.

Recently, I met three of the teens who live at the home and would benefit from this space improvement project! The young ladies provided valuable input on what they would like in the room. In expressing their ideas, it came across loud and clear that they felt honored that someone thought enough about them to give them such a gift. This was VERY reinforcing to my spirit!

Right now my Akron project home is greatly in need of furniture, built-in storage, flooring, lighting, and finish carpentry. For more information contact Sandra DeLong, DANA member, and owner of Inviting Interiors, LLC at invitinginteriors@neo.rr.com or 330-283-4114.

Shelter Care, a child caring agency, is a private, non-profit entity governed by a 12 member board of directors. Shelter Care is licensed by the State of Ohio Department of Job and Family Services as a child caring agency.

Washington DC Project H.O.M.E. Project- Under Way

Design Scheme Interiors, LLC, DANA Member Sherry Ways and her staff along with The Ward 7 Arts Collaborative is working in partnership with the Unity Health Care’s East of the River Health Center to improve literacy rates among children aged six months to five years old living in Ward 7 of Washington, DC. The clinic currently works in partnership with Reach Out and Read of Metropolitan DC to combine pediatric literacy with pediatric care. Artists from the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative, and designers from Design Scheme Interiors, will work together to turn the space in which the program operates into a stimulating, functional, universal and organized environment which will encourage the growth and development of the 2,000 children who visit the clinic for their well-child visits each year.

Currently, the project site is situated in the midst of a bustling waiting area of the health center. This presents challenges in effectively implementing the program. By creating a beautiful and functional space conducive to literacy and learning within the clinic’s walls, we hope to increase literacy among the children, ages six months to five years that visit the clinic each year.

Last year, Unity Health Care served more than 80,000 DC residents (over 18,000 were children), and approximately 2,000 children were served by their East of the River Health Center in Ward 7. The communities in which these children live are challenged by poverty, homelessness, poor education, unemployment, substance abuse, and an increasing number of new HIV/AIDS cases. However, Unity provides primary healthcare and supportive services to these residents through an outcomes-based community healthcare model, regardless of their ability to pay.

Information from the 2000 Census revealed that Ward 7 was second only to Ward 8 when it comes to the largest percentage of families (21.6%) and individuals (24.9%) living in poverty in the District. These wards are also home to a large percentage of children under the age of 18 (44,884 out of the District’s 114,992 children live in Wards 7 and 8). A 2007 article in the Washington Post revealed that the State of Adult Literacy Report found that Ward 7 had the highest percentage of residents over the age of 16 who were functionally illiterate (50.4%) (“Illiteracy Aid Found to Lag in District,” March 19, 2007, B01). Many of these individuals are the parents of the children served by Unity Health Care’s East of the River Health Center.

Through "green" design, combined with early learning and child care design, a visually creative learning space will be achieved for children ages six months- five years old. Through design, art and education pediatric literacy will thrive in a vibrant, stimulating space designed for, around and about children. Quiet and manipulative play will be achieved through division and space planning.

Currently, Design Scheme Interiors, LLC is developing the conceptual portion of the project. Preliminary space planning, colors, mural concept and furniture selections have been made. A design board to be presented to officials at Unity Health Care and the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative is currently being developed. A presentation of the plan will be made in June.

The DC Project Home/Unity Health Care Project is in need of the following donations of environmentally friendly paint products, lobby seating, environmentally friendly rugs, books for children ages- 2-10, environmentally-friendly children's furniture and volunteers are needed to implement the project this summer. In addition, any monetary donations will be welcomed. All who donate will be formally honored with a plaque with your name or company on it. The plaque will be permanently placed in the space as an adopted sponsor of the Unity Health Care Center's reading corner.

For more information contact, Sherry B. Ways, DANA member and Design Principal of Design Scheme Interiors, LLC at sherry@designschemeinteriors.com or (202) 582-5555.

Projects are underway...

Photos and stories coming soon!