Enterprise in Your Community
MarCom Volunteers Help Revamp Saint Louis Crisis Nursery Home
Story By Rhonda Sciarra: Senior Writer, Employee Communications
About 40 volunteers from the Marketing Communications department helped brighten up Saint Louis Crisis Nursery North with fresh coats of paint and hours of thorough cleaning. The Nursery North house in North St. Louis provides emergency shelter for children. Saint Louis Crisis Nursery is a not-for-profit organization committed to preventing child abuse and neglect by providing short-term shelter for children whose families are faced with emergencies or are in crisis.
Working in two separate crews, the volunteers spent a day this summer volunteering for the project. The morning shift helped remove old wallpaper and move furniture, while the afternoon shift painted the walls of the playroom, hallway, kitchen, and front walkway.
"The three-bedroom home needed some updating, so the paint and small cleanup jobs made a world of difference," says Graphic Artist Maria Fahrner, who organized the project along with Administrative Assistant Kim Loftus and Graphic Artist Maggie Massey. "Hopefully, we made the rooms and nursery a little more enjoyable for the children who stay there each night."
The nursery has a small number of staff members in paid positions, and their primary responsibility is taking care of children rather than projects like painting and cleaning. So volunteers' efforts are vital, says Gloria Ragland, Crisis Nursery North Program Coordinator. "We wouldn't have been able to do these projects if not for the help of the Enterprise team," she says. "It has made such a big difference and brought new life to our space."
MarCom Supervisor Chris Heuer, who has volunteered again with Saint Louis Crisis Nursery since MarCom's volunteer efforts, says it was rewarding to see the end result. "The people at the nursery were so grateful, and their reactions were the neatest things to see," says Chris. "Volunteering just took a few hours out of a day, but the end result is something people can enjoy for many years to come."
For more information, visit www.crisisnurserykids.com.
