On September 22, 2011, as part of the United Way’s Day of Caring, a group of staff from Transport Canada volunteered to give Three Links Houses (Bellinger House and Jonathan House), located behind the Care Centre an exterior “face lift”, which included landscaping and painting. The Rona store on Grandview and Slocan donated soil and the Vancouver East Parks Board donated a load of mulch to the project. Laurel Polkosnik, owner of A Cultivated Garden Landscape Design Services, volunteered her expertise.
Three Links Houses, owned and operated by Three Links Care Society, provides short-term accommodation for out-of-town families who come to Vancouver to obtain medical treatment for a child or family member with a serious illness or injury. In recent years, the Houses have undergone interior repairs and updates, but the exterior esthetics of the Houses still needed improvements.
The weather did not cooperate that day, as it rained steadily for most of the day, but that did not deter our dedicated volunteers. While the landscaping work went ahead, the exterior painting of the houses could not be done. As a result, the volunteer group opted to paint the inside of Activity Room at Three Links Care Centre – a project which the Care Centre residents had been wishing for.
At the end of the day, both the Houses and the Care Centre benefitted.
Special acknowledgements to Rachael Rousseau, Housing Services Contractor, Gregory Barabakh, Caretaker, Bronwyn James, Volunteer Coordinator, Laurel Polkosnik, the Transport Canada volunteers, the Rona store on Grandview Hwy, the Vancouver East Parks Board, and of course, the United Way. Thank you for caring.
