Community Challenge Weekend By: Catherine J. North

The Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators (AALA) joined together in support of MY HOUSE again this year for its Community Challenge Weekend.

MY HOUSE is a long-term transitional home for infants who cannot be released from the hospital to their mother’s care. Each day in Atlanta there are infants who are medically ready to be discharged from hospitals but cannot leave because there is no place for them to go. These “boarder babies” are often infants who had special medical problems at birth that required a prolonged hospital stay and also have complex social situations that keep them from being discharged to the mother. With no extended family and no foster home, these babies remain in the hospital until an appropriate home becomes available.

AALA first became involved with MY HOUSE in 2003 and has collected donations of over $6,000 in cash, food and pharmacy gift certificates, along with diapers, formula and clothes.

On Saturday morning, October 16, 2004, 25 members and vendor sponsors gathered at 8:00 AM in the parking lot across the street from MY HOUSE to register, receive work assignments, select the tools necessary for each assignment and socialize over donuts and coffee. As the sun came up on a beautiful, but cool morning, we donned our CCW T-shirts, gathered our respective tools, and crossed the street to begin work.

While some members worked to remove all toys from the back yard, others began disassembling the playground set. We then began scrubbing, rinsing and drying every item while other members were trimming dead limbs from the trees, removing debris from the yards left from a recent storm, raking, weeding and trimming bushes. After clearing the playground of all debris, new mulch was spread over the entire area.

Meanwhile, another group of members worked through the two-story interior of MY HOUSE. As we moved from room to room, the babies would need to be moved to another room as they could not be exposed to the cleaning materials. Each room was dusted, ceiling fans were cleaned, windows were washed, floors were vacuumed, and all surfaces such as play furniture, toys and cribs were wiped down with special solution. Floors in the dining room, kitchen and bathrooms were mopped. High chairs and tables were also cleaned with the special solution. The kitchen and bathrooms were spotless! Area rugs in the lobby area were vacuumed and then moved outside so that the floors could be swept and mopped.

Back outside, the playground equipment was being assembled and the backyard toys were taken to a new backyard storage unit to be stored for the winter.

Various MY HOUSE volunteers and organizations have prepared keepsake boxes for each child which are used to store pictures of the child, records of their milestones as he or she grows, begins to speak and takes the first steps, etc. At the time of this year’s CCW, there were six children without a keepsake box. AALA purchased the six boxes, paints and brushes. The law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP volunteered to take the boxes the week before CCW and 12 employees and family members painted and decorated the boxes over the course of the week. Each box had a clever theme such as baseball, dinosaurs, trains and more. They were artfully decorated, the name of each child was painted on the top, and the inside lid was decorated with a personal inscription for each child. The boxes were presented to MY HOUSE after the cleaning project was complete. These boxes will be treasured by the adoptive family for years to come.

After a quick tour of the interior of MY HOUSE for the members who worked outside, we packed our tools and equipment back into our cars and headed to Front Page News to wind down and enjoy a relaxing lunch.

Working with Donna Carson and Jill Harris at MY HOUSE has been such a pleasure, and each and every member who has participated in CCW for the past two years shares the rewarding experience of helping such a wonderful organization. AALA hopes to continue its support of MY HOUSE in the future.

AALA would like to thank the law firm of Shapiro Fussell Wedge Smotherman Martin & Price, LLP for donating the T-shirts for 2004.

Editor: Debra F. Goldman (DGoldman@GMLJ.com) (This publication is the property of the Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators. Reproduction or reprint without prior permission is strictly prohibited. Click here to request reprint permission.)

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