More than 200 freshmen traveled to Toledo this past Wednesday to paint the inside of Family House, Northwest Ohio’s largest homeless shelter.
With guidance from faculty and leaders, the students in Kohl Hall’s Chapman learning community painted the entrance foyer, hallways, cafeteria, multipurpose room, staircase hallway, conference room, offices and reception area.
They did it in less than two hours.
The only place they didn’t paint was the personal space where guests sleep.
“Family House’s food budget was recently cut in half,” said Madeline Duntley, Chapman director. “They don’t have money for things like upkeep. We wanted to help give Family House a facelift.”
Painting was a practical way to help, Duntley said.
“We’ve done things in the past that are fleeting,” she said. “But paint lasts fairly long. We worked in areas that are public spaces so it’s beneficial for guests to see.”
Though it was practical, the project was difficult to plan, Duntley said.
“The logistics of these things are tricky,” she said. “Small aspects you don’t consider must be carefully planned. We designed it so the first bus contained the students who would work upstairs. That prevented a potential 15-minute traffic jam.”
There were also some on-the-job surprises that couldn’t be predicted, Duntley said.
“They gave us tubs filled with one type of paint,” Duntley said. “About 15 minutes before the students arrived, we realized that there were two different tubs. We thought they were all the same.”
Chapman faculty member Sherona Garrett-Ruffin said she hopes the students learned from their service experience at Family House.
“There are different models of service learning,” Garrett-Ruffin said. “By the end of their Chapman experience, we hope students will learn pros and cons of charity work and the different models of service learning.”
This is why Chapman is helpful for freshmen, she said.
“We help students make meaning of the educational process,” Garrett-Ruffin said. “We are so proud we can introduce a first year class in the first semester to service learning.”
The current group of Chapman students is cooperative, she said.
“I was so impressed with the group interaction [at Family House],” Garrett-Ruffin said. “Few schools can say they can create the opportunity for large-scale groups to do service like this.”
Freshman Spencer Lee said he appreciates volunteer opportunities like painting Family House this past week.
“In this economy, people lose their jobs and they want to stay in a nice looking place,” Lee said. “That’s not to say Family House wasn’t nice before. Everything needs a fresh coat of paint every once in a while.”
Duntley said she is proud of the learning community’s efforts.
“It’s rare to find 230 givers,” Duntley said. “It was such a difficult task. We had 25 step ladders – something could’ve easily gone wrong. But these students made the task seem easy. You can’t take that for granted.”
