Over the summer of 2006, several of Crossroads' small groups partnered with local businesses to redesign the playground of the Potter's House (a non-profit, sliding scale daycare center in Rockville) so that the children can have a safe, fun place to play. The new playscape was dedicated on Saturday, October 6th by Potter's House Executive Director Leslie Suarez. Click here for a press release on the event and here for a Hartford Courant article about the project and dedication ceremony.

When residents graduate from the Tri-Town Shelter for the homeless and move into their own place, the shelter provides them with pillows and linens as a house-warming gift. There is a problem, however, according to shelter director Pieter Nijssen, "There are never enough pillows. For some reason, we run out of those sooner than anything else we give the graduates." He adds, "Some months, we barely have enough pillows for the residents still staying at the shelter, let alone the graduates."

Crossroads helped solve this problem by hosting a pillow drive to benefit both the Tri-Town Shelter and The Lodge Shelter for Men.

The Ann & Hope Outlet in the K-Mart Plaza in Vernon provided church members with a 25% discount on any bed pillow in the store. Armed with these savings and a desire to help, Crossroads members and friends purchased 150 new pillows for the shelters. SUVs and minivans stuffed with bed pillows delivered the gifts to the shelters.

"The staff at the Tri-Town Shelter were moved to tears," says Kate Herbst, a key volunteer for the pillow drive. "It is easy to take such comforts as a pillow for granted. It was wonderful to be able to help in such a personal way."