By Dan Nemiroff
Who: ARAMARK and the Southwest Improvement Council
Volunteers: 100
Where: Denver, Colorado
When: August 27- 31, 2010
TCF: Emily Kean, Dan Nemiroff, Phillip St. Clair, Aundrea Dean, Dylan Morrill, Steadman Graves
Team Care Force arrived in Denver on the evening of August 27th, amped and ready for a great week of service. We ate an awesome meal (which included a 7 pound burrito challenge!), checked into our hotel, and rested up for the service week ahead.
The next morning, we took a tour of the Southwest Improvement Council where we worked the rest of the week. Beth, the program director at SWIC, gave us some great information about the center’s history and the array of services it provides the Denver community. She explained the foreclosure assistance program that helps hundreds of families facing the threat of losing their homes. She also told us about the SWIC community garden, food distribution program, and afterschool and summer school youth programs. SWIC is a great community center that empowers so many Denverites, and was a welcoming partner for Team Care Force and ARAMARK.
We had three prep days to get the five projects ready for the ARAMARK volunteers. Our days were full of taping and tarping, priming walls, building scaffolding, measuring and cutting wood and organizing tools. Throughout the week, everyone at SWIC was helpful and supportive of us.
On Tuesday morning, the ARAMARK volunteers arrived at SWIC ready to serve! We started with some PT, a welcome address from some of the SWIC staff members, and received all of the information needed for a successful day. Once the teams got to work, the day flew by. At the end of the day the 100 volunteers had built 4 shelving units for the food pantry, installed ceiling tiles in a programming room, repainted the gym, painted wall murals throughout the center, built 8 picnic tables, replaced the front gate of the community garden, built 2 planter benches, and painted 14 painted panel murals to go around the center! Once the work was completed and cleaned, we all came together in the gym to celebrate our accomplishments, and reflect on the day. The day was capped off with a heartfelt appreciation from a woman who has been going to SWIC for many years. Her kind words served as a powerful ending to a great day of hard work!
In all, the Denver trip was fantastic. Working with a partner as welcoming as SWIC, and meeting the awesome ARAMARK volunteers was a great experience for the TCFers that made the trek out west. Denver’s beautiful skyline, fun restaurants, abundant trees and parks, and great weather provided an awesome landscape for an inspiring, fun, and successful Care Force Trip! Gracias Denver!
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