Company helps Hamilton foster home with fresh coat of paint

Daryl and Roxann Gunnarson have been working for nearly seven years trying to accomplish their dream of helping improve foster care not only in Hamilton, but also throughout Butler County. That vision received a boost Thursday morning from the Sherwin-Williams paint company.

The Father’s House, which is part of the Gunnarson’s non-profit New Oaks Community project, is located on three acres on D Street in the Rossville Historic District. The property formerly housed the Butler County Children’s Home, an orphanage started in 1869 for orphans of the Civil War.

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Hoping to provide a quality residential campus for foster families, the idea was to rebuilt the property and be open by last summer. Trying to patch and paint the older property has been a challenge.

But as part of National Painting Week, volunteers from local Sherwin-Williams stores in Butler County wanted to chip in to help paint rooms in the Father’s House, according to Cesar Aquino, district manager for the company’s Cincinnati market.

“I came across this project on a sales call with one of my sales managers and we ended up getting 14 volunteers including store managers, assistant managers and one of our employees that wanted to help,” Aquino said. “So we were able to get four rooms painted for them — two coats — in about four hours so hopefully that helps the project move along the way.”

He said the group was so impressed by the Gunnarsons’ project to help foster families that the company will “likely come back a second time down the road,” to help paint more rooms.

Roxann Gunnarson said the help was needed, and the quality of work was certainly appreciated.

“It definitely does help and we so appreciate all of their help,” she said. “They were great workers and did a great job.”

Father’s House hopes to open in the fall, she said.

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