On September 10, 2003, over 75 employee volunteers from four Anchorage companies, Anadarko Petroleum Company, AMHTA/Trust Land Office, Alaska Supply Chain Integrators (ASCI), and ConocoPhillips Alaska dedicated their day to Covenant House to help complete our “wish list” projects. As always, we were anxious to participate in another Day of Caring and this year our program coordinators had plenty of tasks on each of their wish lists.  

      First National Bank performed their Day of Caring on Monday, September 8. The four ladies from FNB took over Jason's closet and sought to make it more organized and accessible. Dawn Coursey and Natasha Pope designed an extensive “closet system” including wrap around shelves and pantries. Then they went to Home Depot with Jason and purchased the necessary building materials. The group wanted something that would leave a lasting impression and after a long day of hole drilling and shelf building their hard work had paid off.  

      On September 10, the remaining Crisis Center projects were completed. The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and Trust Land Office teamed up to deep clean the kitchen for the THIRD YEAR in a row. Those brave souls scrubbed their hearts out and our kitchen sparkles once again.  

      Also at the Crisis Center, volunteers from Alaska Supply Chain Integrators repotted several large plants from the intake area then painted the intake area, dining room and upstairs hallways. As they departed, covered in paint, with smiles of accomplishment, they said they couldn't wait for next year.

      Anadarko Petroleum Company employees took a moment to stop into the Job Development Program long enough to wash all of the windows inside and out. Then they continued to another project at the Food Bank of Alaska.  

    ConocoPhillips sent two large teams of volunteers this year. One team worked at Passage House laying gravel in the playground, building shelves for the laundry room, cleaning the kitchen and garage, painting, and winterizing and repairing flowerbeds.  

      The second ConocoPhillips team walked over to the Community Services Center and split up into two groups. One half went upstairs to the Rights of Passage program to paint the entire living room (an admirable feat!), clean the kitchen, and winterize and stain the outdoor deck. The enthusiasm in this group was unceasing, even when threatening to paint stripes down each other while painting the living room walls! The other half worked downstairs in the Youth Resource Center to clean the kitchen and freezer, sort and organize the donation room and clean the entry/locker area.  

     In addition to helping a good cause, volunteers cited several other benefits of Day of Caring including the team-building that takes place among coworkers, getting to learn more about Covenant House and its programs, having fun with coworkers outside of the office, experiencing the sense of fulfillment of volunteering, and of course getting out of the office for a day.  

     A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of our volunteers for this year's Day of Caring. Through your hard work, sweat and elbow grease, we are able to maintain our facilities so that we may continue to serve Alaska's homeless and at-risk youth. Thank you again and again for donating your time to Covenant House!

     Please note: If you are interested in volunteering in the future either as a group or as an individual, please let us know by going to our website www.covenanthouseak.org and clicking on the “Getting Involved” link.