Weidner Cares Team Visits Texas

In May 2017, Weidner Apartment Homes held the “Weidner Cares!” community service days in Midland and Abilene, Texas. Midland, TX The Weidner Cares Team recently partnered with Casa de Amigos in Midland, TX, where 120 volunteers helped paint, clean, and organize their facility. According to their website, “Casa de Amigos is a multicultural neighborhood center that provides comprehensive services in four main areas: Adult and Youth Education, Social Services, Health & Wellness and Senior Services. They offer a variety of services such as ESL classes, medical care, childcare, job counseling services, a senior citizen day center, and much more.” The Weidner Cares Team repainted, deep-cleaned, and replaced flooring in the nursery of the facility. They also cleaned and organized the storage room, garage, and computer room. The board room, doctor’s office, and 3 of the classrooms received a much needed new coat of paint. The kitchen was cleaned and painted and the library was redesigned with a new house-shaped book shelf and seating area. More than 1,000 books were sorted and organized. Outside, the playground was painted, cleaned, and new shade tarps were added. Additionally, the basketball court received a makeover with a fresh coat of paint on the benches and new games were added to the court. The Casa de Amigos team was appreciative and excited, and Executive Director Tonya Eckert commented, “Everybody loves to come into an environment that feels good and looks good. This is just is so inviting. Our clients are going to be so astounded to see the changes that were made in just a 24-hour period. We cannot say how much we appreciate the change this will make for our clients.” Abilene, TX In Abilene, TX, the Weidner Cares team partnered with the City of Abilene’s Neighborhood Initiative, working specifically in the Alameda Neighborhood. Over the past few years, the City of Abilene has been working to clean up some of these under resourced neighborhoods in order to help revitalize the community, and empower their residents to help change perceptions surrounding where they live. The Weidner Cares Team painted and repaired two houses in the neighborhood of Abilene, TX. The team replaced siding on the houses which had been damaged by termites and carpenter ants, donated new air conditioning units to the owners and landscaped the yards of both houses. Miss Marie, an Alameda resident for some 60 years is elderly with a family that lives out of town. She needed help with her lawn in addition to various repairs around the house. Marie was very happy to take a look at her newly renovated home. “To me, this neighborhood is just as good as the richest neighborhood. It’s just memories here and the love that I had here in this house.” Homeowner, Miss Shelly is surviving on a fixed income while caring for her brother who has a disability. Her home received a coat of fresh paint from the Weidner Cares Team as well as exterior landscaping and repairs. Jerry Heald is Weidner’s Regional Maintenance Director for Texas and commented, “A lot of times we get wrapped up in our own world and we do not realize that there’s a lot of needs out there. And now we are able to see beyond the horizon of our own lives and see that there are a lot of needs out there and we can give back just a little bit to help in that area.” Thank you to all the volunteers on the Weidner Cares team for your dedication and talent on these important projects. To the City of Abilene and the team at Casa de Amigos, we thank you for the opportunity to make a small difference in these vibrant communities. -The Weidner Team “What matters to you, matters to us.”