By Kathryn Young
(Dallas)
On October 9, 2014, Avison Young’s
Dallas-based employees were reminded of the importance of giving back to the
community.
As part of the firm’s first-ever Global Day of Giving, we proudly
partnered with the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC), and spent the day
assisting the charitable organization’s staff in the outstanding services they
provide for child victims of tragic circumstances. Avison Young’s Global Day of
Giving involved employees in all of the firm’s 60 offices in Canada, the U.S.
and Europe. Each Avison Young office chose a local charity with which to
volunteer. The Global Day of Giving will be held annually in October in all
Avison Young markets and continually expand as the company opens new offices
around the globe.
In Dallas, we chose the DCAC as our 2014
charity based on a recommendation from David Cooke, a Principal based in Avison
Young’s Dallas office – and for good reason.
Nearly 3,000 children – a staggering
number – walked through DCAC in 2014. These children are victims of extreme
cases of domestic violence and/or sexual abuse. On average, the victim is a
girl, aged nine or ten, who has been sexually abused by someone she knows and
trusts. These children arrive by way of Child Protective Services, the Dallas
Police Department, one of the 25 other police departments in Dallas County, or
a hospital. Sometimes, they are brought straight from school, with no time to
pack clothes or items that they would miss terribly, like a special teddy bear.
The DCAC provides these young victims
with a warm, child-friendly environment to help buffer their emotional pain. Through
loving donations, the children are given toys, stuffed animals, clothes, school
supplies, and essential day-to-day items. There are several therapy rooms where
children are provided with art, music, play, and even animal-assisted therapy.
One of these therapy rooms has a doll house
version of a courtroom, with dolls playing the roles of lawyers, jurors and
judge. In a better world, there would be no need for such a toy, but here, there
is. While it is sad that such a toy should exist, it can do a great deal to
help these innocent children, victims of unthinkable crimes who are too young
to understand the court system. This toy is used to help them prepare for
court, where they will have to face their perpetrator, a scary prospect for a
child to imagine.
We noticed many beautiful quilts,
stacked on shelves in the Clothes Closet, hanging on walls as decoration, or
laid on sofas in waiting rooms. Erin Bannister, Director of Operations at DCAC,
told us that they were all handmade by the Quilters Guild of Dallas. Erin said
the guild had donated hundreds of quilts. These quilts gave a warm feeling of
comfort, a very nice touch. Each quilt is a loving donation by the women of the
Quilters Guild.
We worked in the Clothes Closet,
directed by Becky Aguilar, Volunteer Coordinator at the DCAC, organizing
donations and loading shelves with containers of children’s clothing,
toiletries, diapers, and brand new toys. We were told that the teenage victims’
group needed more donations, and DCAC staff suggested art sets, sketchbooks and
drawing supplies. We also worked in the visitation rooms, cleaning tables and
chairs, and cleaned all of the children’s toys and placed them back in the
dollhouses and toy trunks.
While it is tragic that such a place is necessary, we all
felt that our day was well spent, and several of us mentioned that we would
like to volunteer our services to the DCAC again.
Our thanks to the unselfish staff and volunteers at the Dallas
Children’s Advocacy Center for what they do and for allowing us to be a part of
the healing process – now, and in the future.
(Kathryn Young is a Client
Services Coordinator based in Avison Young’s Dallas office.)
