The ARK Domestic Violence Shelter has unveiled a new Adopt-A-Room Program. The program allows area individuals, businesses, groups or organizations to pool together resources and talent to update and renovate rooms within the shelter itself.
The program debuted in mid-July, and within days, 4 of the 8 bedrooms up for adoption were taken. Mary Silver, Volunteer/Program Coordinator, and Christie Tongate, Program Director, adopted the first room. “This is a great way to contribute something meaningful to The ARK and have fun doing it,” Silver said. “It doesn’t have to cost a lot. You can always team up with a friend, like I did, or a group to make the purchases, and then join together to paint and put it all in place. For those who love to decorate, this is a great opportunity.”The renovation of the rooms is meant to refresh and update the rooms as well as to make them feel more like home. “When a victim and their family members are brought to the shelter, often they are demoralized, depressed and feeling hopeless,” Tongate said. “We want the rooms to be bright and uplifting to start them on their road to healing.”
The pair started with the purchase of some brightly colored bed comforters and worked around those colors to decorate the rest of the room. They painted the entire room a cool cucumber for a variation of the green in the comforter, and repainted the window sill, baseboards and desk a crisp white. The nightstands were painted a hot pink and a bead of white was added around the edge of the tables. A matching hot pink bed covering was found in the donations for the child’s bed, and an old mirror found in donations was repainted white. A wall hanging over the child’s bed gives it a sense of its own space, and some tissue paper flowers of green, pink and blue were hung above the bed for fun. An inspirational quote was placed directly on the wall. Three pictures, two framed and one on the desk, were created in Photoshop with a quote on each. The generous donation of two twin mattresses and box springs raised the height of the bed and made them both more comfortable.
All together, the pair spent roughly $450 on purchased items and spent a few days painting.
To join the program, you can contact Mary Silver, at the ARK. She will give you the remaining floor plans of the rooms available, which will show you the dimensions of the room, the number and sizes of the beds, and the furniture in the rooms currently. You may opt to just do the basics of the room you choose, with matching bed coverings, curtains, rug, and wall art or you may also opt to purchase new furniture for your room.
This is a perfect opportunity for a family, a group or an organization to tackle. The planning of the room, the shopping and coordinating can be a lot of fun. “I’m hoping that we get some folks that aren’t afraid to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to making their room fun,” Silver said. “While we need to keep it fairly simple, and stay away from knickknacks, we know we’re going to see some really wonderful ideas in decor.”
For more information about the ARK Shelter or the “Adopt-A-Room Program,” you can go online to
