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Volunteers turn out to aid group home
Volunteers Katie Loflin, left, and Casey John, both of Charleston, paint a porch railing as part of the exterior project of the Golden Girls Group Home on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010, in Ceredo. A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for Friday, Aug. 20, 2010.
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CEREDO -- After the work of an impressive group of volunteers, the young ladies of Golden Girl Group Home will have a serene new place to relax.
Dozens of volunteers representing the West Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association and a number of area businesses have been busy this summer providing the group home -- which provides housing to 24 girls who are under state custody -- with a new rec room, as well as a new outdoor kitchen, patio, garden and landscaping, including a new, heart-shaped fish pond.
"It's so amazing," said Renee Harrison, executive director of the Group Home. "It's an answer to a prayer."
West Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association does a major volunteer project every other year. Selecting Golden Girl as the recipient for this year was a simple decision, said Brett Merritt of G&G Nursery in Lesage. They could see the passion that the workers had for helping the girls, many of whom have come from abusive situations.
The volunteers hope the fish pond will be therapeutic, and there will be rocking chairs looking into the garden, where girls can have counseling sessions. And the rec room is a dream-turned-reality, Harrison said. Until now, there's been no "family room" area for their family of girls, where they can get together for group meetings, holiday celebrations, dances and other gatherings.
Volunteers were all out putting some finishing touches on the project on Tuesday, and a ribbon-cutting is planned for Friday, after which the girls will have a pajama party with karaoke in their new rec room.
"It really is neat to be involved in a project with so much community support," said Merritt, president of the association. His parents and brothers were out working on the project as well. "Everyone wants to be here, and it's been great."
The project is done with $75,000 committed from the association and then a snowball's effect of donations from other businesses, said Beth Loflin, executive director of the association. When it's all finished, it will likely come close to $200,000 worth of donated labor and materials.
Past projects for the WVNLA include the Sojourner's Shelter in Charleston and the Raleigh County Women's Shelter.
Businesses that contributed labor and/or materials this time included Corder Builders and Big Sandy Superstore for the rec room, Creative Kitchens for the outdoor kitchen, as well as a number of landscaping businesses, including G&G Nursery, Landscaping by Hillcrest, Lavalette Nursery, Oasis Landscaping, Creation Gardens, Three Oaks, Terra Salis, Saunders Lawn Care, Biafore Landscaping, Riverside Sod and Hurley's Custom Landscaping. The geographic area they represent covers much of West Virginia and stretches to Wheelersburg, Ohio.
The donation of all their time is a tremendous gift, Loflin said. "Typically, they're booked solid, and they've come here today," she said Tuesday.
Harrison said the project started through Business Network International with Nikki Thomas, the advancement coordinator for the group home, who made some connections through the organization. Merritt and Lavalette Nursery's Mark Springer came out to Golden Girl last year and took a look to see what could be done, Harrison said.
They had originally just planned on landscaping work, but when Merritt asked Harrison what her dream would be, and it included a new rec room, they broadened their scope, bringing in volunteers even from Merritt's church and others to help make it happen.
While volunteers worked on Tuesday, some of the girls from the home helped out while others were in the kitchen preparing them lunch. Becky Morris of Riverside Sod, located in Winfield, said she's been touched by coming out and meeting the girls over the course of the project.
"I never knew there was anything like this in the state," she said.
