Wilmington, Mass. – At a time when many social service providers have been forced to cut back the services they offer to those most in need, Washington, D.C.’s Calvary Women’s Services launched a major expansion effort. This expansion, completed in the fall of 2012, includes product donations from Parterre Flooring.
Calvary’s new $3 million, 14,000-square-foot project, designed by OTJ Architects, will transform an abandoned building in the historic Anacostia neighborhood into a new home that will host 50 women a night and provide 100 meals a day. To help with this worthy project, Parterre Flooring donated 4,000 square feet of its Compete Natural Maple flooring for the bedrooms in the building. The expanded center will increase the number of women who will move into their own homes each year by 40%.
“At Calvary we offer women a safe place to stay and support, hope and change for tomorrow. Holding those two critical pieces together – support services and a secure place to live – is the key to returning women to independent living,” says Kris Thompson, Calvary’s executive director.
The new facility will:
• Bring all of Calvary’s programs for women under one roof
• Provide 10 additional beds for the Calvary Women’s Shelter and five additional beds for the Pathways program, which gives extra support and longer-term housing to women who have been chronically homeless
• Include a state-of-the-art kitchen to provide home-cooked meals to homeless women and cooking classes
• Offer private bedrooms with more space for women’s personal belongings
• Provide space for Life Skills classes, employment training, and other services
The Parterre flooring installed in the facility’s bedrooms feature the warm look of wood with the easy maintenance and longevity of vinyl. Parterre products are constructed with a heavy-duty, high-density clear wear-layer that makes the flooring extremely durable and long-lasting. Plus, the high-performance polyurethane top-coat allows for resistance to soil, staining and scuffing. All of these features mean the Parterre flooring installed at Calvary Women’s Services will continue to look beautiful for many years to come.
“We were thrilled to be able to offer our support to an organization that does so much for women in need in the D.C. area,” says Parterre Flooring president T. Fred Roche. “Thanks to this new facility, Calvary will be able to provide a home and hope for even more homeless women.”
“With the support of friends like Parterre, Calvary Women’s Services is able to provide women in Washington, D.C. with a safe place to stay while they work to improve their lives,” Thompson said. “We are proud that through the support we offer – personalized case management, educational classes, mental health services and supported employment – every five days, a woman moves from Calvary into her own home. Gifts like this ensure that we can continue educating and empowering women to take the steps they need to move from homelessness toward independent living.”