Leadership Dallas Alumni, Sherwin Williams Team Up to Paint a Brighter Future for Area Non-Profits

When Sherwin Williams wanted to make a community impact and create a bonding opportunity for their employees, they called Fran Phillips LD ‘06. When Fran got the call she did what she always does, jumped into action. “Sherwin Williams called me because they remember Leadership Dallas from our 2006 Graffiti Wipe Out project” said Fran. “I contacted the Leadership Dallas Alumni Advisory Council to help recruit volunteers and reached out to fellow classmates Ryan Bowles LD’06 and Bill Church LD’06, who sent folks from their firms.
I also reached out to Keep Dallas Beautiful Board members who served as Dallas Hosts.”

Through emails and calls Fran helped pulled together a team of about 100 people to work on a service project called “Painting a Brighter Future.” Together with the Leadership Dallas team, approximately 1200 Sherwin Williams executives from the Eastern Division (comprised of US and Canadian stores and officials), including the top brass, painted the interiors at 12 locations of 9 prescreened non-profit agencies. Through their efforts, thousands were served.

“We went to every site and made Sherwin Williams feel welcome. We wore cowboy hats and served as “runners” and water carriers, etc. Sandra Doyle LD’06 (bless her) brought 4 extra folks from management at Atmos” said Fran. Atmos Energy contributed the most volunteers from any one company for the project.

“What a blast I had at AM Ballet Folklorico (one of the agencies served)” said Sally Rosenberg LD’06. “Now I know how the Extreme Makeover TV volunteers feel each week.” Rosenberg serves on the Leadership Advisory Council and was the liaison between the LDA volunteers and Volunteer Center of North Texas.

The project got some big time visibility when one of the group photos (from the Homeward Bound agency location), was shown on the big screen at Times Square in NYC. “When The Container Store and Boone Foundation heard of this project at Homeward Bound, they donated new flooring and Elfa shelving. Up to now, residents at Homeward Bound had to store their few belongings in bags under their beds. Now they have new flooring, new paint on the walls and proper closet space to hang their clothes. Little details like this make a difference in the dignity of the people served by this agency,” explained Jennifer King of the Gardere law firm This is also an example of how a few committed folks really make a continuous and evolving impact.