Got Peace?

If you read last month's blog, you know that OP has started a partnership with The Peace Center in Langhorne, thanking those who refer us with a donation to TPC and giving a percentage of our profits from every job we do.

What many of you don't know is that with the first tick-tocks of 2015, we made a commitment to build our business. We love what we do. New color makes people happier, and we believe the house is happier too. But during a workshop we attended late last year, the facilitator - echoing a rather famous Simon Sinek TED - asked, "Why do you do what you do? Identify that, and you're in business."

It didn't take long for us to come up with an answer: Home should be the one place we all feel happy and safe.

As Odell Painting approaches its 30th birthday, we can count more than a thousand homeowners and houses we've made happy. Every day during those almost three decades, we've been repairing broken plaster and spackling holes before making old surfaces new again and turning dull rooms into bright ones. But there's work to done beyond the walls of our homes....

We both come from a background of activism, believing that good work begets good work and that giving back is a fundamental cog in the universal wheel. And between the two of us, we've aligned ourselves with some terrific organizations that we will continue to work with, including the Bucks-Mont NARI Community Service Committee, which - with Eiseman Construction (see story at top) - helps put dry and safe roofs over the heads to those who needed better shelter.

But we wanted a partner and a "why?"

What’s different about The Peace Center’s work is that while realizing the need to empower our girls, they know we’re only doing half the job if we aren’t listening to our boys. While The Peace Center works tirelessly in the quest to end domestic violence, they know that the cycle of abuse will continue - with someone else somewhere else – if we don’t address the pain and needs both partners bring to a relationship. The Peace Center believes we can work through intolerance – even when we don’t agree – and promote transformation not through awareness alone, as are most programs’ goals, but through dialogue and questioning; there is no other way to understand and empathize. There is certainly no hope for peace “out there” if we don’t feel or are unable to find peace in our hearts, inside our basic relationships and within our communities. You can find out more about their prevention and intervention programs by visiting www.thepeacecenter.org.

And if you're looking for something Spring-y to do, click on the peace sign below for a list of TPC's seasonal events.

Only a few months ago, we were afraid to turn on the news or pick up a paper. Not anymore. Because when you're in action you don’t feel so scared.

Tribute to Phil Eiseman

On the last Sunday in March, the Bucks County Audubon Society (BCAS) - beneath a six-month-old Eiseman-constructed roof - celebrated the giving spirit of Phil Eiseman, who passed away in early January.

 
Phil's wife, Melissa, with their company Eiseman Construction will continue to be the local champions of the No Roof Left Behind (NRLB) project, with which Odell Painting is a proud partner. The plaque, a loving tribute to Phil and inscribed with the words This roof will shelter generations of explorers, children of all ages, connecting with nature at Bucks County Audubon Society was created by one of 2014's local NRLB recipients, Lumberville ceramist Gloria Kosco speaking to guests.