Three local organizations teamed up to give back to the Northern Virginia community with a friendly playhouse-building competition in Chantilly.
Grunley Construction, Habitat for Humanity, and Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic volunteers came together to design and build three playhouses on Tuesday. Two playhouses were donated to the Chantilly Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The third will go to a local Make-A-Wish child with a critical illness.
“We spend a lot of time throughout the year making sure that we give back to the communities in which we build. Our mission statement is ‘We build what matters,’” says Sonya Brown, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Grunley Construction. “Today, that mission statement actually lends true, because we’re building what matters for children and kids in need. It’s super exciting and a very proud moment.”
Playhouse Competition
Three groups of Grunley Construction employee volunteers got the same budget and a base model playhouse to customize. Four more Grunley Construction employees served as the judging panel. The judges evaluated the houses on six categories: creativity and theme, kid appeal, functionality and safety, use of budget, teamwork and participation, and community impact.
The orange team went all out with functioning, sealed windows with screens. The ceiling was painted with blue skies and clouds, and one side had a built-in skylight taken from an R.V. The team put a play kitchen inside, along with curtains for each window. The team won first place and earned a trophy. All participating volunteers of the competition received gift cards for their time and effort.
The green team created an underwater-themed playhouse, painted a deep blue and decorated with drawings of sea creatures. The house had plastic water features made to look like jellyfish, and window planters with fresh flowers.
The blue team focused on a garden, cottage aesthetic, with each side of the playhouse adorned in paintings of flowers. The interior included a turf grass carpet, a handmade wooden bench, and a small swing hanging from the ceiling. The entrance to the playhouse had an awning, and some windows had planters with flowers.
Collaborating for Charity
Grunley Construction and Habitat for Humanity are familiar partners with charitable building projects. According to Rachel Jones, the director of volunteer and community engagement of Habitat for Humanity of DC and Northern Virginia, the two organizations often work together to build affordable housing for local community members. This is the first playhouse competition, but Jones hopes to make the event an annual tradition.
“What we do at Habitat for Humanity is provide safe, affordable housing. So we do new builds as well as home repair work, and we often work with different corporate partners like Grunley to help fund those days, and also volunteer for those events,” Jones says. “This is an alternative way to connect with local families. We donate them to habitat families that could use them, and in this case, what we’re really excited about is a unique partnership with Make-A-Wish.”
This is the first time Make-A-Wish is teaming up with Habitat for Humanity. The Mid-Atlantic organization often works with local corporations like Grunley for different kinds of community work. When Grunley got involved in plans for the competition, they felt Make-A-Wish would be an ideal recipient of one of the builds.
“It’s so important, not only for the wish kids, but for their community, their family, and anyone that’s involved. Everyone here today doing this is being affected by an amazing wish kid,” says Raylene Grant, the director of giving and engagement at Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic. “They’re building a house that’s going to a wish kid, and they get to know that they’re doing something fabulous and joyful.”
Feature photo by Melanie Jensen
