Chicks for Charity hatch plans to help out others

The Oakland Press/JOSE JUAREZ
Don Woodward, left, and Sheryl Kossick stand in front of a home which will be used by recovering addicts.Woodward works for the Grace Centers of Hope. Kossick is co-founder of “Chicks for Charity,“a group that is helping with decorating the interior of the home.

PONTIAC
Chicks for Charity hatch plans to help out others
By ASHLEY WOODS Special to The Oakland Press


Standing in a dilapidated, turn-of-last-century home at 70 Seneca St. in Pontiac, Sheryl Kossick sees the possibilities.
“This will be the boys’ room,” she says, gesturing to the blue and white walls. “We’re going to give it a Detroit Lions theme.”
Kossick, owner of Ivy Hill Interiors and a resident of Commerce Township, spends many Saturday mornings repainting and furnishing homes on Seneca Street. As co-founder of Chicks for Charities and president of its Oakland County chapter, she convinced 27 women to donate their free time..
“Anything that comes up as a charity event,” she said. “We did a bowling tournament for breast cancer in Novi last week, and we raised $10,000. We sent 2,100 pairs of shoes to Guatemala, we’ve made welcoming baskets for immigrants in Ann Arbor. We may work with companion dogs for the handicapped soon.
“We have no limits,” Kossick said. “Whatever comes along, we’ve decided to do.”
But the Seneca Street residences, owned by the Pontiac recovery and rehabilitation center Grace Centers of Hope, are her most immediate priority.
“I had gone to a fashion show at Grace Center last year,” said Kossick. “They had acquired 14 homes for graduates to move into after they leave the shelters.”
Kossick thought the homes needed a decorator’s touch. The homes were unpainted and unfurnished.
“They were in desperate condition,” she remembered. “I thought, being an interior decorator, that I could help.”
Kossick met Don Woodward, who directs the rehabbing of the Seneca Street homes. Six years before, Woodward was a prescription drug addict with a twodecades-old habit. “I was dying,” he said. He entered the Grace Centers of Hope two-year rehabilitation program in 2002.
“You learn life skills here,” he said of the program. “And then you move to Seneca Street, and you’re part of a community.”
Woodward remarried and began a second career at a reconstruction company. He also lives on Seneca Street, where his free time is spent preserving the century-old residences.
“We do the rewiring, we bring in master plumbers, and the city of Pontiac works with us to get all of the permits,” he said.
He calls Kossick and the Chicks for Charities, “our heroes.”
“I think it means so much to the women who live here ... that someone would reach out to them, without even knowing them,” he explained.
The homes house about 80 people, including 27 children whose mothers attend the rehabilitation program.
“The mothers really need to learn how to be mothers,” said the Rev. Kent Clark, who runs Grace Centers of Hope.
“It’s not just the women who need help. These children have moved every six months of their lives, they’ve been sold to the crack man for sex, they’ve been left alone, and they’re disattached. And we need to teach them how to attach again.”
He said the presence of the Christian nonprofit organization changed the neighborhood for the better.
“This place was a hotbed of crackhouses, prostitution, and it was falling apart,” he said, gesturing to the row of immaculate, brightly painted homes. “Now, it’s one of the safest streets in Pontiac.”
At 70 Seneca St., where two mothers and their children will soon move, volunteers installed drywall and began painting the banister. Members of the community donated appliances, furniture and computers.
Kossick said she was surprised by the “overwhelming response” of Chicks for Charities.
“We donate our time — it’s not about money. Big corporations can give checks. And we have fun painting and redecorating!” she said.
Men and women must keep jobs and pay rent in order to stay in Seneca Street .
“They deserve it as much as anyone else,” said Kossick. “Our goal is to make them proud ... to make a place they can be proud to come home to.”
FYI
Grace Centers of Hope is accepting volunteer applications for its projects. Call (248) 334-2187, Ext. 16, or visit www.gracecentersofhope.org.