Anago’s Extreme
Bedroom Makeover
May 1, 2, and 3, 2015
Community
Connectivity – this is the best way to describe the incredible weekend as
Anago’s Extreme Bedroom Makeover became a reality for the girls. The girls who
live at the at the Anago Parkhill Therapeutic Residence have multiple mental
health issues and some have also experienced violence and abuse trauma.
Hundreds of volunteers donated their time and talents to move the dream for the
girls’ bedrooms into reality!
This amazing
Makeover Project has been a year in the making.
Cynthia O’Neill, CEO of High Altitude Thinking and Anago Executive
Director, Mandy Bennett, had the Vision to give the girls the “extras” they
deserve, but there is no funding for. The
new décor allows the girls to have a bedroom like every other girl would have,
a safe space to call their own while they reside at Anago. It goes beyond the décor to create an
atmosphere of caring and compassion.
On one bedroom wall the words, “No ONE believes
your pain is real” was written by a youth.
The words echo with isolation and pain and the belief that no one will
ever care or understand.
This event
was an incredible reminder that the community does care, that they see, hear
and value the girls. Tremendous community support came from the most
unexpected sources. People have welcomed the girls as a valued part of the
community by showing their caring about mental health.
The girls now have new CRATE beds, mattresses
and nightstands. The rooms were painted and
then decorated with new sheets, new duvets, pillows, cork boards, artwork,
throw rugs, laundry baskets, and adorned with lovely accessories. The rooms are
colour coordinated and have been turned into a young girl’s dream bedroom. They
look amazing.
At the
Extreme Bedroom Makeover Weekend, Mandy Bennett, Executive Director of Anago was
talking with a volunteer as she was quietly painting a room. Mandy asked her, “What does Anago mean to
you?” She looked at Mandy and said, “Anago means so much to me, this used to be
my bedroom thirty years ago.” She
continued, “It’s the only place I never ran away from, it’s the only place I
stayed, it’s the only place that was home.”
When you hear something like this, it gives you shivers, because you know
you’re touching people’s lives permanently. To hear this from somebody thirty
years later, you know you’ve done something where you’ve made a change for a
very long time.