From Shelter to Stability
Fresh Paint & Fabulous People
Church of the Redeemer Adults and Teens Paint CARITAS Building
On a recent hot summer day a group of nine enthusiastic volunteers from the Church of the Redeemer in Mechanicsville dedicated themselves to putting a fresh coat of paint on the outside of our office. Jennifer Pulisic, the driving force behind the effort, was accompanied by Carrie and Dalton Ruch, Luke Bolka, Chandler Crescentini, Chad Baron, and Thomas, Joseph, and William Pulisic. Painting supplies were donated by Carl Cronin and Carrie Ruch. Jennifer's own words best tell the story of the day's events and the group's relationship with James Taylor, a graduate of The Healing Place:
"Nine of us headed out this morning, not quite sure of the task at hand, were actually overwhelmed a bit at the first sight of the task and were pleasantly surprised at the outcome! We arrived at CARITAS and went into the back of the building---wow, it was not small job, a big cinder building that surrounded a playground needed painting. James explained to all of us that he is 51 yrs old, has spent time in The Healing Place (rehab for substance abuse) for his drug and alcohol addiction.
James explained to all of us how his addiction affected everyone in his life and he became homeless, lost everything and utilized CARITAS himself. He is now clean for the past 18 months and works for CARITAS at their furniture bank. He is a painter by trade, how great for us, because he led us and taught us a lot of tricks of the trade. He led us in a prayer before we started the job; all of us were quite moved by his story and honestly really enjoyed his company and expertise all day. He was great with the boys, very patient and a good teacher. He shared that he will be starting to lead lots of volunteers at CARITAS as part of his job, so we were his "first group" and was thankful to be able to share his story and practice leading a group.
Anyhow, we actually finished the job by mid-afternoon, even with a break for lunch. The guys, Carrie and I learned a lot on the job and were pleased with the outcome. The building looks clean and fresh with its makeover. The boys all worked hard and represented themselves well."
A huge "thank you" to Jennifer, Carrie, Carl, James and all the young men who took up at paintbrush and made this possible (most painted for the first time)! The building looks great and our clients and staff are very grateful for your generosity and hard work!