Care Force Chronicle - Greater Boston

Care Force Chronicle - Cautchy Bailly - 9.22.09

Care Force had the privilege to serve in their home area of Greater Boston at the East End House in Cambridge, MA. Susan Bensen, Andrew Duffy, Kimberly Ferguson, JoAnne Sylvia, Ken Wakwe, and I (Cautchy Bailly) had the pleasure of working with Care Force staff members Hugh Harlow, Huw McDonald and Meggan Levene in an effort to transform and beautify an historic part of the community. We were joined by City Year Boston’s Charlie Dunn, Britta Bell, and Melvin Manon.

The East End House is a not-for-profit, multi-service community center and social service agency with a commitment to serve a diverse population. It has been around since the late 1800s and at the current location since 1919 under the motto of “Building Community”. ARAMARK, our partner for this project, also has the same philosophy of “Building Community” making it a perfect match for an ARAMARK project.

The prep week was interesting. While transporting wood to the event location the team found out the garage area at the Headquarters for Idealism was also under construction. Needless to say moving tools out of the work-room on the second floor and into our van was a little bit of a maze. Fortunately, we were able to take everything in stride and finish in a timely manner. The prep work at the East End House went exceptionally well despite the challenges. The East End House staff there were extremely helpful and supportive. It is always a pleasure to work with people who believe in the same values as City Year. The kids at the center were so energetic, and it’s always fun to talk with kids; children have a talent for making people smile.


The service event focused on building. The East End House is not a large facility, so it was imperative that volunteers worked outside. The eight teams of volunteers at the event were responsible for building and staining ten bookshelves and cubbies to go inside the building. Work inside the building consisted of painting hallways, rooms and metal handrails. The ARAMARK volunteers also built and stained a sandbox for the children, cleaned and removed an old planting area, and an old, unsafe, wooden playhouse. They complimented these tasks with the building and staining of non-toxic planter boxes, mulching the children’s play area and painting a 185 ft. wall mural to cover the back of the building.

By the end of the day, the center looked like it had been demolished and a whole new center had been erected. The outside and inside were refreshed, and the staff of the center loved the changes. Personally, a day is a success when the volunteers build relationships through service. A lot of the volunteers on my team worked for the same company but in different lines of business so they did not know each other as well. By the end of the day they were exchanging jokes (sometimes at my expense) and overall enjoyed the day. Days like that feel so rewarding, and I am glad that everyone left the event with a big smile on their face.