|
Victoria Lynden, President and CEO of
Alliance Abroad Group, gets ready to
paint with her daughters. |
Imagine that you are a school age child in crisis and seek out the Communities In Schools office at your school for help. You walk in and see the smiling face of a CIS social worker whose kind words and empathetic ears are calming...but the walls of the counseling room are drab and there are old tattered posters on the walls. The room is cluttered and there is no where comfortable to sit....this room is in need of an Extreme Makeover! Poof ...
Communities In Schools and the CIS students at Reagan High School would like to say a huge thank you to the volunteers from the Austin based Alliance Abroad Group
http://www.allianceabroad.com/ . The energetic and creative employees from Alliance Abroad Group were looking for a way to help out Communities In Schools. They saw a request on our website for volunteers to do an Extreme Makeover on the CIS room at Reagan High School. It seemed like a perfect fit for their talents and skills--a match was made.
The Alliance Abroad Group (AAG) volunteers met with our Reagan High School Program Manager, Beth Hurley and some Reagan CIS students to find out what they would like the room to look like. The volunteers gathered the necessary supplies. A few weekends later --the AAG volunteers, CIS Reagan staff and students gathered together to give the room a much needed facelift.
|
| The finished product. Group room in the back left. What an unbelievable gift. |
A bright, fresh coat of blue and green paint now adorns the walls. Old yucky chairs were replaced with a new rug, a comfy couch, throw pillows and bean bag chairs. One talented volunteer built a bench that doubles as a storage space, while another built a new bookshelf over Spring Break. New lanterns, tastefully framed teen dating violence prevention posters and student decorated tiles hang around the room while fabric-covered cork boards provide a space for student pictures and poetry.
A CIS student is currently working on a mural for the wall. Reagan CIS students now see this room as a comfortable place to be. So comfortable, that our Program Manager reports having to remind students to get up and get back to class. She also reports that the room is so much brighter, leading to increased staff productivity and reduced burnout. What an amazing gift!
Another huge thank you to the Alliance Abroad Group volunteers! We are so thankful for your help and generosity! Gather your coworkers, a group of friends or your family and give one of our CIS counseling rooms a facelift.
Whether it be a fresh coat of paint, a new couch, colorful artwork on the walls or comfy throw pillows for students to relax on during an intense counseling session with a CIS Social Worker....your help can make a huge difference in the life of a child. There are numerous CIS counseling rooms in the Central Texas area waiting for an Extreme Makeover.
For more information or to get involved, please contact Alissa Magrum amagrum@cisaustin.org or 512-464-9724.
