A special initiative designed to help abused and neglected children in the Houston area of the United States has proved to be a roaring success, thanks to employees from the company’s Marine & Protective Coatings business.
Prompted by E-Business manager John Davis, the BEAR (Be A Resource for Child Protective Services Kids) project was set up with funding support from AkzoNobel’s Community Program.
Established to provide hope and help to abused and neglected children and the caseworkers who protect them, the first year of the project saw the formation of the BEAR Necessities Program. This created an emergency supply room serving 6,000 children who had been put into protective custody.
Today, more than 12,000 children are served annually through the three BEAR rooms which have now been created. But it’s still not enough, because estimates suggest that 18,000 children will need protective custody in 2009. In order to provide the essential needs for these children, additional closets/rooms and visitation rooms need to be set up throughout the Houston metropolitan area. Employees in Houston have therefore agreed to help construct and maintain five necessity and visitation rooms over the next three years.
In july 2008 the first group of volunteers started the construction of their first necessity and visitation room. Their hard work included reconstructing, painting, assembling closet shelving, carpeting and carpentry. Also they organized the inventory for the opening of the room. Besides actually realizing the rooms, each week volunteers will go to the various closets to keep them organized, take inventory, and create shopping lists to replenish inventory. Other employees will take the shopping lists and purchase the items to replenish stock.
“I was very pleased with the positive response from my colleagues in the Houston office,” said Davis. ”In fact, I learned a little bit about human nature during the conversations. People want to help others, they just need someone to lead them down the path and show them the need. Once that need is exposed human nature takes over.”
He went on: “I do have experience in these types of endeavors. My spouse and I were foster parents to 25 children for more than seven years. Children who are brought into protective custody are afraid and sad. We understand these feelings which they endure. Therefore, by providing them with the necessities of love and understanding, this actually helps them get through the turmoil.”
Added one of the AkzoNobel volunteers: “On the way to the location all I could think about was ‘what am I doing?’ There were other things I could have been doing with my time over the weekend. But after arriving at the site I realized why I was there. Seeing the kids being brought into custody made me realize that there are others who need help.
“Any given day I would receive numerous phone calls. On this day, not one phone call. When the job was completed and we all shared how we felt, I realized that there is more to life than me. I will be volunteering for more activities.”