Exceptional Care for Children (ECC), a residential health care facility that provides a home-like environment for children receiving medical care, is one of the first facilities in the country to provide skilled nursing as well as transitional and end-of-life care for children. ECC is state of the art on the inside, but the staff needed help making the outside into a safe place where patients could enjoy fresh air and a change from their daily routines of medications and treatments.
The grounds were overgrown, but with the help of family, friends and more than 30 members of Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) Delaware Chapter, volunteers helped restore a park area that children and their families can enjoy.
On May 10, ABC volunteers demolished an unsafe gazebo and developed a wooded area into picnic grounds—finishing in only six hours what would have taken the limited ECC maintenance staff a few weeks.
"What they did was so far beyond our expectations," says Chelsea Todd, ECC’s public relations and personnel manager. "We asked them to take down a gazebo because it was rotting out and electrical wires were exposed. It had become a hazard for families."
Volunteers then took on the task of clearing a large amount of brush from the area. Seeing through the trees was nearly impossible, but by the time volunteers were finished, the view from the patient building to the woods was unobstructed.
Todd says clearing the brush was extremely important because now children are within eyesight of the patient building.
"After work was completed, it provided a sense of comfort knowing the kids would be safe if they wanted to go outside," Todd says. "Some of the kids have only lived in a hospital before coming to the facility, so it’s great to give them the opportunity to experience being outdoors."
The ABC Delaware Chapter utilizes an ABCares committee to choose community service projects. Members of the committee research programs in the area, make onsite visits and work together to choose a project.
"We like to try to get people involved that aren’t just skilled craftsmen," says Jean Toman, director of public relations for the chapter. "Part of the purpose is to get other people in the association involved. The goal is to get everyone working together in a group, and we look for projects that will really help other people."