GOOD SHEPHERD SERVICES

As in previous years, volunteers from local corporations are pulling out all the stops for Good Shepherd this summer, treating the young people in our programs to a variety of exciting and enriching activities, as well as helping to give several of our facilities a fresh new look.

In June, ten employees of our longtime corporate partner Credit Suisse painted bedrooms at our St. Helena’s Community Group Residence in vibrant shades of pink, yellow, blue or green. In July more than a dozen Credit Suisse volunteers brought their paintbrushes to Marian Hall, re-doing the common room in icy blue and white, in addition to painting several doors and planting flowers on the rooftop patio. Credit Suisse also organized Reach for the Stars, a month-long series of workshops with Credit Suisse employees and young people from our Community Group Residential programs and the Adolescent Unit of our Foster Boarding Home division, for the fourth year in a row. The current session of Reach for the Stars has been expanded from previous years, with younger participants concentrating on the job readiness issues that have traditionally been the focus of Reach for the Stars and youth above 16 meeting separately to learn about personal fiscal literacy issues, including budgeting, credit, bank accounts, and housing options.

Our Greenhouse facility, which houses our North Bronx Family Services Center and Bronx Single-Stop Center programs, received a major landscaping upgrade recently courtesy of volunteers from Och-Ziff Capital Management through our partnership with Robin Hood. The front yard was dug, weeded, fertilized, mulched and planted with various flowers and shrubs. The back and side yards were similarly treated, and the back patio was painted with based coats, in preparation for a mural that will be painted by young people in our summer camp program at PS/MS 15 & 291 who also decorated flowerpots for the patio. The Och-Ziff volunteers planted these pots, as well as flowerboxes for the second floor balcony.

With the dog days of August upon us, there are still several corporate volunteer projects to look forward to. Employees of New York Life Insurance Company, who also recently completed a five-week series of Junior Achievement Economics for Success with young people from our after-school program at PS 32, will be escorting campers from PS/MS 15 & 291 on a trip to Sony Wonder Technology Lab. Also upcoming this month is the fifth annual ‘Castles in the Sand’ event at Coney Island where young people from our Red Hook Community Center Beacon summer camp program will be designing and building sandcastles with professional architects who are volunteering through the Architects Union, led by Mario Arbore of Arbore Design.

While summer is often thought of as time to do nothing, we are privileged to know many remarkable people who see it as a time to help others. All of us at Good Shepherd are extremely grateful to our corporate partners for giving so generously of themselves this summer.

 August 13, 2007