A tale of three organizations
We love it when people can all come together and do something good. We especially love it when new friends step up to the plate immediately to volunteer. This is what happened this past week and I can’t wait to share the story of the difference it made for one very special girl’s life.
Why did this happen?
To back up just a second and give you some context, every member of our team is encouraged to get involved with a charity or social organization of their choosing. Each month a % of Apartminty’s earnings are given to one organization of a team member’s choosing. It’s our way of doing good and committing to positive change, not just saying that’s a value…but actually making it a very personal part of our company DNA.
So this month, our team member Sharnisse was excited to share her organization, My Girlfriend’s House.
My Girlfriends House is a local nonprofit that helps women and teenage girls living in homelessness and group homes. They offer a host of services to motivate these women and their families to become stronger and get back on their feet.
While the nonprofit offers year round services, one of their signature events is The Shelter Room Makeover Party. They choose a different shelter or transitional housing facility throughout DC and raise money to renovate the apartments. This year, on September 5th My Girlfriend’s house renovated New Endeavors for women.
It is a 15 room transitional housing facility for single moms and children to call home. Each team at My Girlfriend’s House is assigned an apartment to give a fresh paint job, furnish and create a beautiful home for its new residents. Our team’s apartment will be inhabited by a grandmother with 3 grandchildren moving from a shelter. The children’s mother is deceased and their grandmother, now guardian has cancer. They are in need of everything from very basic supplies like sponges and pots and pans to beds and couches. While the main focus of our fundraising was to just get the basics that the family needed, I started to think about these kids…specifically the oldest daughter who is 14. She must have the weight of the world on her shoulders. While we can’t change her situation, we could give her to let her know she is someone special. This became even more clear, when we saw that she was currently using a dresser from 1971 and sleeping on a loveseat.
Enter Overlays
Recently on the Apartminty blog we highlighted Overlays. They are an awesome company allow anyone with an ounce of DIY in their blood to transform their basic Ikea furniture into awesome custom pieces. They reached out after our article and asked if we would like to partner on another article…it just so happens they reached out the same day that Sharnisse presented the shelter renovation project to us. I asked Overlays if they would be willing to donate for the project and they said yes without skipping a beat.
So Apartminty bought the furniture, Overlays donated their awesome pieces so we could custom…now we just had to put it together.
She’s crafty
Actually, we’re happy to report the Apartminty team is rather crafty. Maddie volunteered to put together the dresser…and was pretty adamant that she do it on her own without distraction. Holli has a thing for arts and crafts (no kidding, she’s been sewing and knitting since she was five) so she took on the actual Overlays custom piece. And Sharnisse showed up with another hidden talent. Not only is she a terrific photographer, she’s also one heck of a video director!
So one Friday afternoon we turned our office into a production studio. The next day, the My Girlfriend’s House team cleaned, organized, painted, furnished and decorated the New Endeavors shelter. And that special 14 year old we were talking about? Her room went from this
to this
Put it all together
Everybody looking to jazz up their home should look at Overlays…they have an incredible product and moreso they are an incredibly generous company! If you need a local charity to give your time or money to, checkout My Girlfriends House! They will find a way for you to contribute your talents….and if you need a new apartment to house all your new custom furniture…you know what to do -> Look Here!
Want to see how easy my overlays are to use? Check this out:
