Last Wednesday, Josephine Thomas-Hoytt, an HSA Commercial senior vice president, led a team of volunteers who traveled to Chicago Commons’ senior center in the city’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood  to help the 100-year-old non-profit organization construct a new gardening area for the facility’s daily guests. The senior center at Chicago Commons provides adult day care and home care services that help seniors or disabled adults to live in their homes as long as possible and prevent, or delay, the need for institutional care. The 40+ seniors that attend the facility each day are provided with both breakfast and lunch and enjoy engaging activities and professional care throughout their visit.

Chicago Commons, a long-time partner of HSA, reached out to representatives from the real estate firm about assisting in renovating the rear courtyard area of the adult day care center to provide the seniors with a handicap accessible area where they could plant flowers and vegetables throughout the year. Eric Woods (pictured above), manager of facility operations with Chicago Commons, helped direct the team of HSA volunteers which was responsible for laying new paving stones throughout the garden, staining the wooden planter boxes, and refinishing a set of benches to adorn the courtyard.

The group from HSA–which included Josephine Thomas-Hoytt, Connie Jackson, Brenton Schrader, Jennifer Morck, and Alina Zaj–made a meaningful contribution to the outdoor area which will be open for gardening in the next couple of weeks. This is the second time HSA has partnered with Chicago Commons on a renovation project, as the HSAwareness team helped last year to transform an underutilized sideyard into a vibrant children’s play area at the Nia Family Center in Humboldt Park.

HSAwareness volunteers with Greta Brown from Chicago Commons.

We appreciate the valuable effort of our volunteers from HSA, and we are looking forward to finding another opportunity to roll up our sleeves and help our friends at Chicago Commons with their next project!

About HSAwareness
HSAwareness is the social outreach arm of HSA Commercial Real Estate, which was created to encourage generosity and volunteerism among our team members and other stakeholders.