CLO - United Way Day of Caring in Johnson County Sun
The following article appeared in the Johnson County Sun shortly after the United Way Day of Caring in Overland Park.
Local businesses show they care
Home for disabled gets makeover during United Way Day of Caring
BY ADAM LEE
SUN STAFF WRITER
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Shawn Gordan (left) of Lee's Summit helps Robin Milliken of H&R Lawn and Landscape (center) locate where plants should be placed at Community Living Opportunities home for the severely developmentally disabled. More than 20 individuals, including Betsy Gavin of Prarie Village (right) were at the site volunteering to makeover the exterior of the building as part of United Way's Day of Caring. |
Volunteers from two local companies joined forces last weekend to transform
the outside of an Overland Park home for the disabled from an overgrown
wilderness into a pastoral paradise.
Twenty-five people from UMB Bank and the DLR Group architecture firm teamed
up during the United Way/Combined Federal Campaign¹s Day of Caring to do an
extreme landscaping makeover on the Community Living Opportunities home for
the severely developmentally disabled.
CLO senior administrator Yolanda Hargett said the 11 residents of the house
near Shawnee Mission North High School would be able to enjoy their home
more extensively because of the project.
"Usually, they've just gone out on the back patio, but this is going to
create an environment where they can enjoy their front yard too," Hargett
said.
Enhancements to the home included a small water garden, a paved sitting area
at the main entrance and the planting of more than 70 new trees and shrubs.
Ashley Keller, a CLO teacher at the home, said taking the residents outside
nourishes physical and mental health, and the overhaul of the facility's
landscaping would accentuate those benefits.
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Assisted by Erik Claar of Olathe (center), Bob Carlson of Overland Park (left), and Jim Schlagel of Olathe plant a tree at Community Living Opportunities as part of the Day of Caring.
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The assortment of foliage selected for the home has a variety of blooming cycles, fragrances and textures to create a spectrum of stimulation for the
residents.
"The design team tried to pick out plants that really have a lot of sensory
value, in terms of their smell, touch and visual aspects," Hargett said.
Hardy, low-maintenance plants were selected for the garden beds, which the
residents will help care for, adding another therapeutic benefit to the
landscaping project.
Donations from the Pavestone Company and H&R Lawn and Landscape helped cut
the cost of the project, said DLR¹s Carrie Stallwitz.
Across the Kansas City metropolitan area, 5,000 people spent part of their
weekend in service during the 10th annual Day of Caring.
Groups of volunteers from a wide range of businesses and government entities
worked on over 250 projects for more than 180 nonprofit agencies. Volunteers
participated in 39 projects in Johnson County.
Not all of the Day of Caring projects were based on manual labor and
physical improvements.
Employees of the city of Olathe hosted a bingo game at the Johnson County
Nursing Center, providing snacks and prizes for residents.
Volunteers from Gold Bank gave seniors at Olathe Good Samaritan Center a
special treat by taking them on a fishing trip and picnic at Cedar Lake.
"They pushed those that are in wheelchairs right up to the water's edge,
baited their hooks and everything. It's the kind of thing that these seniors
used to really enjoy doing, but most haven't had the chance in a long time,"
United Way spokesman Ron Howard said.
Hargett said CLO had always wanted to make landscaping improvements but
never had the manpower of finances to do it.
"It has been such a transformation that we made," Stallwitz said. "You can
see what a marked improvement we have made. That 25 people can do this
amount of work in three and a half hours has been amazing."
Betsy Gavin of UMB Bank said the Day of Caring was an excellent opportunity
for team building and sharing in making a worthy contribution to the
community.
"It's wonderful to see the joy on their faces when they come out and they
see how beautiful it is," Gavin said.
John and Betty Pelot helped found CLO in 1977. They wanted a place where
their son Jim could get the care he needed while retaining a degree of
freedom and a quality of life not possible in traditional institutions.
The Pelots said they saw Saturday's project as complementing those
principles on which the group home was built in 1984.
"This will make it less like a group home and more like a home," Betty Pelot
said.
--Posted August 12, 2004.
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