During continued tough economic times and the increased need for community support by many, including non-profit organizations, Lancaster Painting looked for the opportunity to “pay it forward,” or as they titled their new charitable campaign, to “Paint-It-Forward.”
As most businesses in Turlock, Lancaster Painting had received requests over the past several years for the donation of their services and have enjoyed giving back to the community. Oddly enough, the company had not received any requests for this year and so they wanted to look for a project to donate to.
With that desire in mind came Lancaster Painting’s campaign, “Paint-It-Forward.”
The company’s website launched the campaign by stating, “We live and work in a great community and there are so many families and commendable nonprofit organizations who are so deserving of a little help and encouragement and we want to give back in the way that we can!”
The local painting contractor asked for people of the Turlock to submit stories and pictures of deserving families or commendable nonprofit organizations that needed painting but simply could not afford it.
“About 16 nominations were submitted,” said Lancaster Painting’s Lisa Williams.
Steve Talkington, owner of Lancaster Painting, explained how his company chose to give back to the community.
“We actually took the applications to the employees at our Christmas party and they voted for the one that they wanted to do it for,” said Talkington. “They chose Continuum College.”Community Continuum College (C.C.C.) is an adult day training center, serving developmentally disabled adults. 108 students attend classes at the facility and 43 students are part of a community based program.
As the Lancaster Painting employees decided the Paint-It-Forward project, they and their families also volunteered their time on the Continuum College project on Saturday. Talkington said that about 15 employees from Continuum College also volunteered during the weekend painting day.
“I wasn’t expecting as much help from outside the company,” said Talkington.
Paul’s Paint Company donated paint for the community service project and owner Craig Anderson said, while he was also volunteering, “I’m just glad to help a good cause.”
“We greatly appreciate this opportunity with Lancaster Painting because without them we wouldn’t be able to do all of this,” said Rita Redondo, who is the Community Outreach Program Director. “This is just a big dream for us and the students, especially with all the budget cuts.”
Steve Talkington said that the project completed would be worth about $4,500 if the school were to have paid someone to do the job.
“It had been about 15 years since the building was painted last,” said Redondo. “If we had to this ourselves, we wouldn’t be able to afford this.”
More than just the monetary value of the project, and what ultimately initiated this project, is the community service aspect. Redondo explained how the new paint is such a good morale booster for the students and the staff at Continuum College.
Commie Nascimento teaches at Continuum College and said, “We can’t thank them (Lancaster Painting) enough.”
“They notice and appreciate all the change in color and they’ll talk about it for months and months afterward,” said Redondo.
And when the students came into the school on Monday, they really couldn’t say thank you enough, but noticed and appreciated the big difference in atmosphere.“I like the way it was done,” said Student Council Vice President Darwin Simmons. “I think it looks really good, and it looks bigger too. They really did a good job.”
Lancaster Painting loved giving back to the community they’re from and work in, and with this year’s successfully completed Paint-It-Forward project, the painting company is already accepting nominations for next year’s community service project. People may get more information about submitting project nominations or applications at their website, www.lancasterpainting.com.