The Painting and Decorating Contractors Association of Hawaii (PDCA) donated painting services to the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii (BGCH) Waianae Clubhouse, providing a refreshed look to a vital West O‘ahu nonprofit serving the area’s youth.
The PDCA donated materials and labor valued at $50,000, with the work itself performed by PDCA members. The overall project took approximately two weeks to complete — beginning on March 2 — and finished up just before the first of the two Kona low systems hit the state. However, the project was planned for well over a year, beginning when BGCH Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Claudia “Lala” Fernandez was introduced to Dean Nagatoshi, PDCA executive director. Following their meeting, Fernandez submitted a letter of request for several painting projects that were needed at BGCH locations on O‘ahu, including the Waianae Clubhouse. “Wai‘anae was at the top of the list,” Fernandez says.
During the ensuing six-month vetting process, Fernandez was asked to rank her priorities by need, in the event that all her requests could not be fulfilled. “I said okay, no problem,” recalls Fernandez. “So my first priority was the exterior of the [Clubhouse] building; that had nothing to do with the gym, just the exterior walls. … Second choice was to do the interior of the game room,” a central recreational hub of the facility that gets a lot of traffic. “And the third part was to do the exterior painting of the gym outside,” a structure encompassing almost 10,000 square feet.
When the vetting process was completed, Fernandez was surprised to learn that the PDCA would take on all three priorities, fulfilling all the interior and exterior work that was included in the initial request.
The completed project has been getting positive feedback from staff and youth who frequent the Clubhouse. Fernandez recounts a conversation with a staff member who told her the fresh paint job “breathed life into the space.”
The importance to the youth cannot be understated. “One of the youth said that it made them feel important [knowing] that other people are thinking about them,” says Fernandez. “So I think it brings a good perspective of people … wanting to do good in their community and wanting to do good in their club.”
