A Volunteer Project at The Covenant House in New York City
I am proud to report that recently, a group of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia employees participated in a Team Depot volunteer project at The Covenant house - The Mother and Child Center located at 52nd street and 9th Avenue in New York City. The Covenant House provides a variety of stabilizing services to young homeless single mothers and their infants/toddlers. The majority of these young women are survivors of child abuse and parental neglect, further increasing their chances of becoming perpetrators of the abuse. The dedicated staff educates these moms on the dangers, symptoms, and consequences of child abuse and maltreatment, in the hopes that they can prevent any parental neglect or abuse from occurring.
The MSLO volunteers put together a budget, donated the paint and furniture, and contacted Home Depot. Together, they renovated and renewed a lot of different rooms and areas of the Covenant House. The projects involved painting, gardening, decorating, etc. using Martha Stewart Living merchandise. The results were quite impressive and gratifying, as the team got to give back and make a difference in the lives of these terrific moms and their children. Covenant House now feels even more like a home to them!
1 This is The Covenant House - The Mother and Child Center.
2 Olivia Spadafore, a project manager for Retail Marketing at MSLO and Team Depot Captain Al Manigault collaborated together on this project, and planned out all of the details to make this project a success. This is their second volunteer project, as you may remember, I shared the Holiday Wreath blog post in December.
3 Here are some of the Team Depot volunteers from 59th and 23rd Street Home Depot Stores
4 This Paint Associate loved our new advertising campaign!
5 Volunteers split up into groups and began right away on their projects
6 This is a before shot of the outdoor space.
7 This space was never used before we renovated it.
8 A group shot of the Gardening Team
9 A Team Depot team member planting
10 A Team Depot team member planting
11 We used our Glidden paint to paint the outdoor garden containers, this one is in Egg Yolk.
12 Now this space can be used every day!
13 This beautiful set is the Martha Stewart Living Lily Bay Seating Set.
14 Another piece
15 Covenant House staff Brian and Molly already loved their new outdoor space and took a break to enjoy the scenery.
16 Moving indoors, this is a before shot of a lounge where the residents can have one on one time with their children.
17 That same space being transformed by MSL Team Members left: Olivia Spadafore, Emily Payton, Sarah Gursky, and Ellen Clarke
18 MSLO’s Stephen Frost taping off the moldings around the room
19 MSLO’s Ellen Clarke
20 MSLO’s Katie Gastely
21 We added some color to the wall - Martha Stewart Living 119 River Mist Paint - and gave them practical furniture that could be used for seating and storage. This is the Martha Stewart Living Storage Bench with Seat.
22 The Martha Stewart Living Lombard Collection Side Table
23 And the Lombard Collection Upholstered Bench
24 Before shot of the hallway
25 Hallway
26 Carolyn Raymond MSLO volunteer painting the hallway
27 We created bulletin boards for the residents to find out information about news and job postings.
28 The hallway walls were painted Nimbus Cloud from my paint line.
29 Lena Ghaleb - MSLO Digital Art Director - created the bulletin boards.
30 She used products from the Martha Stewart Crafts line at Michaels.
31 Glidden Sales Reps - Nicole, John, and Frank volunteered to help with the painting.
32 To add color to the walls, hand-drawn, kid-friendly murals were created by Team Depot volunteers and store managers to make the hallways more cheerful.
33 Angelica Leogrande, MSLO volunteer painting a butterfly
34 Emily Payton using green paint
35 Jerry Thomas - 59th St. store manager also helped with the murals.
36 All of the paint used for this project came from my line of colors tinted in Glidden Duo at Home Depot.
37 Look how beautiful the murals look!
38 So colorful and cheerful!
39 The residents of Covenant House got creative, as well. They painted birdhouses for the outdoor space.
40 The birdhouses were decorated with our Martha Stewart Project Paint.
41 These project paints are great!
42 The birdhouses were hung outside and will hopefully, attract a bird population.
43 A job fair was conducted for residents, for those who were interested in a job at Home Depot.
44 The residents are required to work while staying at The Covenant House. Approximately 35 residents participated in individual and group interviews.
45 The 23rd St. Home Depot HR team gave a seminar of the different departments the candidates could potentially work in and the skill set that is required.
46 A group shot outside of The Covenant House with Team Depot Volunteers, Covenant House Staff, and Residents. Everyone was happy and excited with the end result.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
Martha, what a great group of people to do that for the Covenant House.
The person in Picture #9 seems to be contemplating rather than planting.:) Maybe the person was contemplating planting, since it all got done and looks great.
I know the residents are happy and grateful with the results.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | August 31st, 2012 at 1:44 am
Hi, Martha,
It's funny how much you receive when you give. Congratulations to everyone who participated and contributed. And, congratulations to the mothers and children, too. I wish them well.
Posted by: Bobbie | August 31st, 2012 at 1:48 am
This was a great project! Loved that things look bright and clean. Do hope that someone is making plans for the roof items come winter...... to cover them or something as snow is hard on outside items. Go Teams!
Posted by: Susan | August 31st, 2012 at 6:43 am
No wonder you are proud of your employees Martha, what a wonderful service project for them to participate in, beautifying the outdoor space and rooms of the The Covenant House. The outdoor furniture chosen, the Martha Stewart Living Lily Bay are not only attractive but look comfortable. I like the color chosen for the walls in the lounge, very soothing and welcoming. Nice job on the bulliten boards Lena, I'm sure they will be put to good use. Thanks also to Home Depot for volunteering in this good cause! Have a wonderful Labor Day everyone!
Posted by: Cindy F | August 31st, 2012 at 7:21 am
Matha, I just love the group shot at the end! Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | August 31st, 2012 at 8:48 am
That made me smile! I'm getting ready to repaint my study and I was admiring your paint colors at Home Depot last week!
Posted by: homer | August 31st, 2012 at 9:00 am
What a great thing the Team Depot and MSL volunteers did for the mothers and children of the Covenant House!! They not only did a great job renovating and renewing rooms at the Covenant House, they newed the hearts and souls of these mothers and their children. God bless the volunteers, the staff at the Covenant House, and most of all the mothers and children in need of help!!
Posted by: Sharon | August 31st, 2012 at 9:23 am
How inspiring! A great cause! I remember the Christmas project too. So you know Michaels is running a 40 percent off on your craft paints until Saturday! I love those paints. I will have to get to Home Depot to check out the projects paints. I was there two months ago and did not seem them. So back I go!
Posted by: Teresa Touey | August 31st, 2012 at 9:36 am
Inspirational and the residents must love their fresh and lovely spaces. Talk about paying it forward!!
Posted by: Sherey | August 31st, 2012 at 10:03 am
Hi Martha, It's easy to see how proud you get at the wonderful projects your MSLO employes do to help others like these young, homeless single mothers who need so much help to raise their babies/toddlers! This Volunteer Project at The Covenant House in New York City is fantastic! Not only did the young mothers and their children look so happy for this to happen, but all of these volunteers looked extremely happy and enjoyed the project! How great also that some of the Home Depot employees helped, too! These photos are absolutely stunning and all of the workers did such fantastic jobs painting the Covenant House inside and out, doing gardening, decorating, etc.! The Covenant House looked like a brand new home and the new residents got even more help to possibly get jobs at Home Depot so their lives will become much better! Every photo is very special, as are the comments and photo #46 is outstanding! Thanks for sharing another great blog, Martha! How fun it was to see Sarah Carey on the Today Show yesterday! She was very happy and did a fabulous job! Hope you have a great day and a great Labor Day weekend! Off to see "Unusual Discoveries at the Farm" on The Daily Wag! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | August 31st, 2012 at 10:07 am
It is a wonderful feeling to give especially when you see the smiles on the recipients. Good job everyone involved with this generous project. Trish
Posted by: Trish | August 31st, 2012 at 10:17 am
A worthy charity.
Posted by: Holiday Baker Man | August 31st, 2012 at 11:12 am
BRAVO to MSLO employees and everyone else for participating in this very worthwhile cause...this makes me smile!!!!
Posted by: Triza | August 31st, 2012 at 12:58 pm
Beautiful job for a deserving cause.
Posted by: Nantucket Daffodil | August 31st, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Way to go MSL, Home Depot and Glidden team. You can't help but feel the kindness given to those who deserve it so much.
Glen
Posted by: Glen Nyhus | August 31st, 2012 at 1:45 pm
What a great experience for your team!
Posted by: Andrea Dean | August 31st, 2012 at 1:58 pm
This post made me smile inside to out! What a fantastic group of volunteers making Covenant House feel much more like "home" for the residents. It was surely a much-appreciated gift that will keep on giving for many years to come. I really love the 'River Mist' paint color, the comfy furniture, and most especially the incredible kid-friendly wall murals! Any pediatric clinic or hospital wing would love to have murals like that. They are stunning and look so professional. Thanks to MSLO, Home Depot, Glidden, and the other volunteers. Great job!!
Posted by: Andrew | September 1st, 2012 at 12:20 am
So great to see... inspiring. Well done Martha.
Posted by: Ed Stacey | September 1st, 2012 at 11:04 pm
God Bless the MSLO volunteers, Covenant Staff, Team Depot and all the deserving mothers and children of Covenent House. "It is better to give than to receive." Many Blessings.
Posted by: Angela | September 2nd, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Just fabulous community engagement!
The pictures tell the whole story so well.
Thank you all!
Posted by: K. Linares | September 3rd, 2012 at 9:48 am
Words cannot begin to express just how happy, rejuvenated and grateful we at Covenant House, particularly, the Mother & Child program are. The teams from MSL, Home Depot and Glidden gave of their time and spirit to bring life back to what so many young women and thier children call home. This was indeed a blessing and although I may lack the right words, I hope through the pictures you can see how we feel. It gives me pleasure to hear not only the residents but the staff exclaim their pleasure in walking into a bright and cheerful space. To be able to use the roof top not only for bbqs, but a space to go when you need a bit of solitude from the stressors of the day and life is priceless. Thank you to everyone who planted the seed for the project, contributed ideas, painted, planted, decorated, talked with the moms, interviewed the youth for jobs and made the day and project special!
Posted by: R. Alexis | September 8th, 2012 at 9:13 pm