(From left) Shannon Cobb, Ann’s Place, Jon Seaman, Seaman Mechanical Services, Joel Third, Rotary Club of Ridgefield, Chris Hoeffel, Rotary Clubs of District 7980, Frank Scahill, Jr., Rotary Club of Danbury, Lee Ogden, H&Y Construction, Charlie O’Neil, Paul Dinto Electrical Contractors. Photo credit: Ann Hermann
A host of volunteers and donors came together to make significant upgrades to the large community meeting room at Ann’s Place, a nonprofit that serves people facing cancer. The Rotary Clubs of Danbury, Ridgefield and Rotary District 7980 provided the seed funds of $10,000 to get the project started. Labor and support were donated by H&Y Construction, Paul Dinto Electrical Contractors, Doyle Coffin Architecture and Seaman Mechanical Services. None of these upgrades could have been done without the generous contributions of these companies.
The upgrades include 130 new conference room chairs, a high-quality sound system, and construction of a new privacy wall which separates a noisy entrance area from the main room.
Doyle Coffin Architecture created the original plans for Ann’s Place and John Doyle came back to help with the conference room upgrade.
“These upgrades have made it possible to run a host of larger seminars and wellness programs, yoga classes, meditation, support groups and more,” said Shannon Cobb, President and CEO. “We even had an open mic night which included a lot of laughter and fun for people facing this pervasive disease.”
Ann’s Place provides comfort, support and resources to people living with cancer and to their loved ones – all free of charge. The clinical social workers, facilitators and wellness experts provide services aimed at improving quality of life during and after cancer.
Other volunteers who helped with the upgrades included members of the Rotary Clubs of Ridgefield and Danbury who unpacked and setup chairs and built the dollies; Marc Huberman and John Krieger who installed the sound system; and Colman Weir, Mike Keegan and Boehringer Ingelheim employees who painted after the construction was finished.
“As with all Ann’s Place activities, it is heavily managed by talented volunteers,” Cobb said. “We are so grateful to everyone who helped pull this together.”
Employees from Boehringer Ingelheim painted the conference room with the building was completed.
Ann’s Place relies on the generosity of donors to be able to continue providing these services free of charge. If you would like to find out more about Ann’s Place services, volunteer opportunities or upcoming events please visit their web site at www.annsplace.org or call them at 203-790-6568.