Assisting Victims of Hurricane Harvey
CRC CARES members from our CBG Building Company Dallas office wanted to help their fellow Texans after Houston’s historic flooding during Hurricane Harvey. By teaming up with subcontractors, project owners, architects, and consultants, the CBG Dallas team was able to fill a 33-foot box truck with over $20,000 worth of basic supplies in one business day. The truck then headed to some of the areas hardest hit by the storm to help those in need.
Kicking for a Cause with Bridges to Independence
On a hot August Saturday, 15 CRC CARES members participated in the Bridges to Independence (b2i) Safe at Home Kickball Tournament, which raises money for homeless families and those at risk of becoming homeless
The 12th annual tournament took place on Saturday, August 5 at Crystal City’s Long Bridge Park in Arlington, Virginia. Our team hit the fields at 8:30 am for the opening ceremony, followed by game play beginning at 9:00 am.
Competing against teams fielded by Paradigm, E-Trade, and many others, the CRC CARES team ultimately played several hours of kickball, ultimately losing in the semi-finals.
This is the third year CRC CARES has participated in the event, and the new b2i headquarters will be located in a retail bay at CRC’s newest project, Ten at Clarendon.
Bridges to Independence (b2i) is Northern Virginia’s leading provider of services for homeless women, families, and those at risk. They offer a continuum of aid and support for all family members, helping them attain stability and move forward into self-sufficiency. They also prioritize prevention by reaching out to at-risk families and help them avoid homelessness in the first place. A private, non-profit organization, b2i has been working with and for homeless families since 1985.
Building Up Community Green Spaces with City Blossoms DC
Our members understand how spaces can shape experiences and transform lives. That is why CRC CARES partnered with City Blossoms DC to improve their Girard Street Park community green space.
Though eager neighborhood children complete most of the garden’s upkeep, some jobs predictably go undone (weeding)! So on June 23, 17 members of CRC CARES volunteered to weed the vegetable garden, cut vines in flower beds, and paint new bilingual signs. As our team worked, school children played in the surrounding park, and some even joined us in painting stakes for the herb garden.
The Girard Children's Community Garden in Columbia Heights is filled with different fruits and vegetables, from garlic cloves and grapes to two apple trees named Romeo and Juliet. The back of the garden is dedicated to a variety of herbs, while beautiful flowers line the gates to attract bees to pollinate. City Blossoms DC sells the harvest in a community market, reinvesting the proceeds into the garden to create more nature-based opportunities for the children who help it succeed.
City Blossoms is a non-profit dedicated to providing spaces like the community garden in Girard Street Park for children to work and play. Serving in neighborhoods in which children may not otherwise have access to green space, City Blossoms provides bilingual, free, and affordable after-school, in-school, and summer programming to predominately Latino and African-American youth from toddlers to teens. Though based in Washington, DC, City Blossoms has worked on over 50 sites nationwide.