Before turning to the Community Program for financial support for the Star of Hope Women and Family Emergency Shelter in Houston, our Surface Chemistry colleagues were already actively involved sorting out clothing by sex and size and organizing food and clothing drives at the Houston site.
The Star of Hope Women and Family Emergency Shelter ministry began in 1986 when the face of homelessness began to change and women with their children were coming to the Men's Shelter begging for a safe place to stay. The present shelter, located in downtown Houston, was built in 1989 and can house up to 300 residents in 71 motel type rooms. The occupancy varies between 250 and 300 people daily, many of which are children.
In the course of a year, over 2000 homeless individuals are provided emergency shelter and other services at this facility. The shelter uses 1460 disposable diapers monthly and spends approximately $1,000.00 a month for baby formula. Within the facility is a medical clinic, a nursery and pre-school area, a computer learning center, hair salon, and a Family Supply Store. The Family Supply Store opens twice daily to provide basic living items (donations) to the clients.
In early 2007, support from the Community Program was requested to further support the Women and Family Emergency Shelter by providing new shelving units for the Family Supply Store and furnishing them with removable storage labels. The old shelving in the Supply Store was in poor condition, wasn’t food grade, and lacked a formalized labeling system making it difficult to organize and store donations and take inventory. Our colleagues from Surface Chemistry solved this problem by installing new food-grade shelving which provided a cleaner and more hygienic environment for the donations.
In the fall of 2007, AkzoNobel Houston facilitated a month-long essential living items drive to help the Women and Family Emergency Shelter fulfill some of the urgent needs in the Family Supply Store such as women’s deodorant, toothpaste, feminine products (e.g. maxipads, tampons), and soap. The plant coupled the drive with a Volunteer Day, sorting donations on a Saturday morning at the Star of Hope Central Warehouse. A wonderful time was had by all the volunteers.
And, all these activities inspired at least 10 employees to again make a valuable contribution to the Star of Hope Center in 2008. Each month they spent a few hours at the Center, sorting out donations, like clothing and cleaning the storage rooms. With funds from the Community Program furniture and baby clothing could be purchased, supporting many abused or single women with children who have fallen on hard times.