Renovations That Make a Difference

How can we make an impact our community? One gesture at a time. Once upon a time, we were asked to estimate the cost of a kitchen for a nonprofit in Wellesley that housed young ladies who were away from home striving for higher education which was unavailable where they were from. 

It dawned on Ray that instead of bidding on a project, we could take the offer to our vendors and our community to all participate in bringing remodeling to the need and allowing the non-profit to use their funds in other ways. Since that project we have looked ways to capitalize our companies design and construction expertise and make a difference in the lives of folks who could benefit from our skills and our community’s compassion. Sometimes that comes in the form of education, birthdays for homeless children or food pantries; and this year–a shelter from domestic violence.

With money raised through our generous clients and The Wiese Company’s partners, we worked with the team at Voices Against Violence, a non-profit located in Framingham. Their mission is to end sexual and domestic violence and empower victims and survivors to help themselves and their children. We could immediately empathize with what it would feel like to flee one’s home with children and seek shelter when our entire mission is to improve the lifestyle of home and family in our community.

We set out to renovate one of the shelter’s kitchens that was in desperate need of updating; mostly because it had lived its serviceable life, and also to create a better way to accommodate the up to six families who seek refuge in this home. In just five days we completed the renovation with our demolition company, 2 carpenters, Zach and Matt (Matt took of his manager hat and picked up a saw), the plumber, electrician and painter- all finishing what on the outside was a fresh new serviceable and more accommodating space. What truly made an impact was this letter we wanted to share with all involved:

To The Wiese Company and all who helped,

I want to say THANK YOU for this new beautiful kitchen we have here at the shelter.

We have been curious and excited all week as The Wiese staff and contractors bustled in and out, but as Zach finished up today and I saw the end result, I was truly floored! As our program participants arrived home this afternoon, they all stopped and stared in amazement at the newly renovated space – they could not stop expressing their gratitude and excitement. None of us could stop smiling (or opening drawers and doors)!

This amazing gift to our emergency shelter program will serve dozens of survivors of domestic violence this year and many more for years to come. For our program participants this kitchen is not just a nice new place to cook – it is a huge tangible sign that there are people in theircommunity that care for them, and that they deserve good things. This is an incredible source of joy and hope you have provided us.

I hope that you can pass on my message to all of your partners who I am not able to contact directly.

From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the staff and program participants of Voices Against Violence: Thank You!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Amanda Mattingly, Shelter Manager

Voices Against Violence/SMOC

For more information about the project and Voices Against Violence you can read online coverage of the renovation here.

We again would like to thank our staff and any of our extended Wiese Company family who was part of making this project a reality. Look out in the coming month for another way to help us make a difference in our community supporting A Place to Turn in Natick and the 8th Annual Ride for Food!