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The Samaritan Inn’s Playroom Gets Extreme Makeover
An impromptu tour of The Samaritan Inn, Collin County’s only homeless shelter, by four friends on their way from Dallas to a ranch in East Texas has resulted in an extreme makeover at the Inn. As the friends toured with Inn Executive Director Lynne Sipiora and Jane Sparks, wife of Inn benefactor Marc Sparks, they were impressed with the organization, cleanliness and updated look of the living and dining areas. The state of the children’s playroom was another story. Like the classic tale of The Velveteen Rabbit, the Inn’s playroom was well-loved, but faded and well-worn.Discussing the condition of the playroom as they drove away from McKinney, they came up with a plan and called Sipiora from the road. “Jane and her friends called me from their car within a half-hour of leaving here and told me they would like to volunteer to completely redo the playroom,” recalled Sipiora. “I was incredulous. I told them it probably would have to wait until the fall, since school was almost out for the summer and the playroom would be constantly full during the day. Jane and her friends insisted they could completely revitalize the room in ten days…and they did! The cheerful hand-painted mural, the replenished art supplies, the restocked DVD closet and TV, new toys and lots of books…it all exceeded our wildest imaginations!,” she said.
To celebrate, the donors held a Playroom Makeover Ribbon-Cutting Party complete with bus . . . and presented each child with a new toy that they could take to their room. “We actually yelled, ‘Move that bus!’ like they do on the TV show Extreme Makeover,” Sipiora continued. “When the bus pulled away and the kids got to see the room for the first time, they couldn’t believe their eyes. I don’t know who was more excited, the kids or the adults. This generous group of benefactors (and friends) has made an immediate improvement to the daily lives and imaginations of these children, who are homeless through no fault of their own,” she said.
“We are ‘extremely’ grateful.”
To learn more about the Inn and how to help, visit www.thesamaritaninn.org.
