Young America, Oprah partner to help youngest Katrina victims
By Jeff Linville -- Kids Today, 4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM
Stanleytown, Va. —
Young America is donating thousands of dollars worth of youth furniture to help furnish new homes built for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
Young America, the youth division of Stanley Furniture, has teamed up with Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network and Habitat for Humanity to help build and outfit 83 new homes, 65 in Houston and 18 in Jackson, Miss. The project has finished 10 houses, and the second phase has begun.
"Many of these children have no tangible evidence of their lives before Katrina," said Glenn Prillaman, Young America senior vice president of marketing and sales. "They lost not only their homes and basic family necessities, but also their toys, their belongings and their beds. We're happy to help give these young survivors a space to call their own, as well as hope for a brighter future."
Shortly after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in late August, Winfrey pledged $10 million of her own money and launched her Angel Network Katrina Homes Registry so viewers could help build homes for hurricane survivors. The resulting partnerships helped furnish them too.
On Feb. 22, the talk-show host devoted a program to the project's first phase and featured Young America.
For the manufacturer, it's been a companywide effort. Eight associates, representing the company's four manufacturing facilities and corporate headquarters, traveled to Houston to deliver the furniture and decorate the rooms.
"We found it especially fulfilling to personally go onsite in Houston and experience the power of this effort," Prillaman said.
The company's design team worked on the look of the kids' rooms with Chicago decorator Nate Berkus, who also designed the rest of the interiors.
Young America designer Maggie Aardema created four color schemes for the children's rooms. For the youngest girls, ballerina pink brings life to the walls, while girls 12 to 18 enjoy a lavender hue. Young boys will have a soft blue shade, and teen boys get a grown-up buff color.
Each room is fully furnished, including a Young America bed, nightstand, drawer chest, desk, chair and mirror. Beds vary according to the age of the child: for infants, cribs; for preschoolers, transition beds with safety rails that convert to a regular twin-size bed; for tweens and teens, twin beds.
"We want these rooms to be personal havens that the kids will enjoy now and for years to come," said Prillaman. "The journey through the infant, preschool, tween and teen years is a complicated maze of changing emotions, desires and needs. Young America easily adapts to those changes and grows right along with the child."
Eight Young America employees traveled to Houston to deliver the furniture and set up rooms. The team included Bobby Hylton, left, Stanleytown, Va., facility; Marvin Lane, Robbinsville, N.C.; Bill Floyd, Martinsville, Va.; Sherry Myers, Lexington, N.C.; Larry Niblett, Stanleytown; Robin Campbell, corporate office; and Karyn Walker, corporate. Not shown is Glenn Prillaman, Young America senior vice president.
