A fresh look for Peninsula Counseling Center

More than two dozen people volunteered a good portion of their day on June 26, not because they had to, or for a chance to get their picture in the newspaper, but because it was a nice thing to do for their community.

Volunteers from the Valley Stream Home Depot store, and other Home Depot locations in the area, partnered with the Peninsula Counseling Center, giving the outside, along with parts of the inside, a makeover.

Ulric Gilkes, the Team Depot captain for the Valley Stream location, helped secure $4,000 from Home Depot’s corporate offices. With the money, volunteers from the home improvement chain provided plants, flowers, paint and other supplies to PCC. The work of Gilkes and others didn’t stop there, as they spent the entire day sprucing up the mental health and chemical dependence treatment facility.

The crew dug up diseased trees, put down topsoil, mulch and new plants, repainted the lines in the parking lot and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls in the children’s waiting room, along with a host of other projects. The Home Depot staff actually ran out of hours in the day and had to come back the following morning to finish their work.

Jeff Kuhr, manager at Valley Stream Home Depot for more than five years, said having store employees volunteer their time is nothing new to him. “Home Depot does a lot of work in local community,” he said. “It’s what we’re about.”

The project came to be after Kuhr met Audrey Goodman, community relations coordinator at PCC, at a Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce luncheon in March. The two began to talk about coordinating an event, so Kuhr asked Gilkes to visit PCC to see what could be done.

“Without the Chamber, we wouldn’t have met for this to happen,” Kuhr said. “It may be a big store, but my store is local. It’s here along with everybody else.”

Shortly after, Goodman took Gilkes on a tour of the facility and he quickly noted there was a lot of work that needed to be done. He added that the planning process could be stressful, but the end result was worth it. “The best part of it is giving back to the community,” said Gilkes, who was working on his day off. “It feels good inside. A lot of people won’t do anything unless they get paid, but I’m not like that.”

Many of the other volunteers worked at PCC for a few hours before or after their shifts at Home Depot. Dr. John Kastan, executive director at PCC, said he was grateful for the Home Depot employees’ help. “It’s wonderful to see community members who actually care about what we do, who recognize the importance of the services that we provide,” Kastan said. “It’s a wonderful partnership and we look forward to continuing to work with them.”

Chairman of the Board of Directors for PCC, Steve Bernstein, said the project is a big morale boost for the staff and clientele and noted that the new children’s waiting room looked great. The walls were painted fluorescent green and yellow and included a magnetic chalkboard for kids to use.

Mayor Ed Fare said he thought the volunteers did a great job on the exterior and interior of the building. “It’s a huge difference,” he said. “We want homeowners, businesses and residents to all be proud of their property and spruce up their property.”

Fare added that other businesses in the area would likely follow PCC’s lead and liven up their respective curbsides.

Kuhr said he and his staff were happy to help and are already looking forward to tackling other projects in the area. “It makes it feel like home,” he said.