Russ Gallant and Sharon Oatway chat in the newly renovated reception area at The Good Companions seniors’ centre. The Ottawa branch of the Yummy Mummy Club organized the makeover.
It all started with an idea, a club of “yummy mummies,” and an act of kindness.
The Good Companions senior’s centre on Albert Street has received an “extreme makeover” – a top-notch interior redecoration – as part of a Kindness Week initiative sponsored by United Way Ottawa.
For the past four years, the initiative has encouraged community members to perform acts of kindness for one week in February. This year included one bigger act billed as Extreme Makeover: Kindness Edition.
The unofficial theme this year was to bridge the generation gap in the community through kindness, explains Sara Cooper, senior director of external engagement and events for United Way Ottawa.
Enter Candace Derickx, a member of the Yummy Mummy Club parent-support organization.
“Good Companions was coming up on its 55th anniversary in Ottawa but lacked the funds to renovate their reception area, which was terribly cold and institutional-looking,” explains Derickx.
Derickx is a regular blogger with the Yummy Mummy Club, where members come together and share stories, tips and ideas about raising children.
Derickx, who has participated in previous years, says she wanted to do something unique this year for Kindness Week, while bringing together two of her passions.
She got in touch with designer Sonya Kinkade about taking on what became a three-week project with the club.
The Good Companions centre, located at 670 Albert St., is a not-for-profit organization that offers social programs for seniors and people with disabilities in the downtown area.
In 2010, the centre received about $500,000 in federal and provincial funding to remodel parts of the building. Last month’s makeover provided a finishing touch.
All it took was seven ready-and-willing designers, countless gallons of donated paint, furniture, and some elbow grease.
The makeover was not without its stresses, says Kinkade, adding that it eventually all came together and was particularly satisfying given the excited reaction of employees and members.
Local businesses such as The Upper Room and Ottawa La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries gave to the cause, donating a leather sofa, shelves, tables and chairs.
Kinkade estimates that about $25,000 in donations was used for the project, coming from many places in the city, including labour and materials by D.E. Kinkade Konstruction Ltd.
The big “reveal” was Feb. 19, coinciding with Kindness Week, which took place Feb. 18-25. The centre also received a new chair rail, reception window and sign, crown moulding, custom wall units in the store and a bench for the foyer, says Kinkade.
“Members were almost in tears when they came in to look at it,” says Russ Gallant, the centre’s director of administration.
Before the makeover, Gallant says that a lot of the ideas in the centre’s suggestion box were about having a warmer and more inviting common area in the centre.
But as a non-profit organization, the centre didn’t have the funds to undertake such a makeover by itself, he explains.
“I think it’s lovely. It’s so welcoming when you come in, it just makes everyone feel so special,” says Rena Miriguay, a member of the centre.
“We visit here much more than we did,” she adds with a laugh.