Springfield College AmeriCorps Program Presents Kitchen Table to Family in Transition
July 7, 2011SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Jul. 7, 2010 -- The Springfield College AmeriCorps Program presented a local family with a handcrafted Shaker-style cherry kitchen table, as well as chairs and other items that encourages them to gather, communicate, and strengthen family bonds, at a reception held on the Springfield College campus Thursday, July 7, 2011, from 10 a.m. to noon, in the Cleveland E. and Phyllis B. Dodge Room of the Richard B. Flynn Campus Union.
The event celebrated the culmination of the Kitchen Table Project, an AmeriCorps service project made possible by a 2010 Building Healthy Communities grant of $1,000 from The Home Depot Foundation, as well as support from HAPHousing, Inc., Bob's Discount Furniture Charitable Foundation, and many other local businesses and donors. The project was led by Springfield College AmeriCorps members Jaime-Lea Pellowe and Julia Godfrey, students in the college’s physician assistant program. Godfrey is also a nationally recognized woodworker.
The table was presented to a young mother who is a participant of the HAPHousing, Inc., Turning Point Program and her twin two-year-old sons. Four other tables have been built and will be delivered to participants of HAPHousing, Inc.'s two transitional housing programs, Turning Point and Safe Step. Accompanying the tables were chairs and such items as cookbooks, games, tabletop gardens, coloring books, and school supplies.
Members of the Springfield College AmeriCorps Program provide more than 75,000 hours of community service per year in the Springfield area in public schools, hospitals, clinics, mental health facilities, after-school programs, and other nonprofit organizations. Members address unmet needs in education, physical and mental health care and wellness, and youth development. In addition to providing service at their site, AmeriCorps members are also required to complete a community service project.
The Springfield College AmeriCorps Program is sponsored in part by the Massachusetts Service Alliance and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Kitchen Table Project Photo Gallery
