When a couple with two daughters learned that they’d have a spot in Homeward Bound’s transitional housing program, they were thrilled. Then reality hit: they would have a blank slate and owned hardly more than their clothes.
To the rescue came two teenagers, Shea Rounds and Emily Datnow, who have embraced the needs of our transitional families as their community-service “Rose Project” for San Domenico School.
They completed their first makeover for Homeward Bound in January but decided not to stop there. Recently they finished a second makeover in San Rafael, with a third already in the works.
“A lot of kids travel to exotic places and do stuff in faraway locations for their project,” says Kate Mahoney of San Anselmo, Shea’s mom. “They wanted to do something local.”
The girls’ excitement about their latest project was infectious: two boys that Shea babysits wanted to help. Max and Dakota Ashe, students at Ross School, reached out to friends and family too.
Together they gathered a full complement of furnishings along with a bit of money to purchase needed items.
Lyta Hamm, a coordinator for transitional housing at Homeward Bound, says the residents were overcome with emotion when they opened the doors.
They saw not only necessities like sheets and toilet paper, but a full kitchen, stocked pantry, patio chairs with potted herbs beside them, and an electric keyboard for their girls, aged 12 and 16.
“They cried tears of joy while they moved in,” Lyta says. “It’s a wonderful gift.”
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