I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend!  I am truly grateful for my family & friends, and I treasure the time I get to spend with everyone.  The same goes to my CDA Team and the people I work with.  I always want to surround myself with the best team who have the same values and love for life, as I do.  That being said I would like to introduce you to my guest writer, Mathew Grove.  Mathew is one of my many talented and promising Project Managers.  He is heading the project for Teen Challenge Arizona and his passion for this project and foundation is unmatched.  So please enjoy and again, thank you for being a part of Candelaria Design!

(Written By Mathew Grove) Teen Challenge is an amazing national organization committed to helping those that are battling addiction. When Paul Cox, Director of Development for Teen Challenge Arizona, reached out to Candelaria Design for help with their kitchen, we were humbly honored to accept the invitation and set a meeting with him right away.  This was the beginning of a beautiful project . . . 

Background

Upon arrival to Teen Challenge, Paul Cox, Jim Moyer and Jonathon Roe educated our design team about the Teen Challenge organization and all of the incredible contributions they make within many communities around our country. Their Phoenix community alone has a daily average of sixty people (from all age groups) that participate - that is a lot of people to feed! To give you a better idea, the kitchen serves approximately 60 meals/3 times a day each year. This totals about 65,700 meals every year, not including holiday meals which serve up to 120 people each.  While jotting down these statistics, we were led to the kitchen which was noticeably in a deteriorating state – the walk-in refrigerator struggled to reach below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and continually would break down, an old dishwasher that was in constant need of repair (we noted that there was no three-basin dish washing sink to use as a backup to the dishwasher and that there was also a range that had bungee cords holding the oven doors shut), and lastly, a rough concrete floor that was not suitable for a kitchen . . . we had to help! We were told that they were applying for a $100,000 grant so they could have the funds to remodel their kitchen that was in desperate need for upgrades. So we signed on and started putting together a plan and design for their kitchen. 

Getting Started

First, we had to put together a program that contained all the necessary requirements for the new kitchen. In order to accomplish this, we immediately setup our first design meeting with Chef Ward at Teen Challenge. Shortly after, we had a well thought-out conceptual plan.  At this point we contacted a home builder here in Phoenix, Arizona who helped us put together a budget for the new kitchen - his first estimates came in and we realized this project could easily cost over $500,000. We realized this wouldn’t work with the previously disclosed budget of $100,000.

After a year of fundraising and reaching the $100,000 mark, I received a call from Paul Cox who mentioned he had a builder that wanted to help.  At this point we met with President and Founder of CR Commercial Contractors, Doug Terrell, who quickly helped put together an updated scope of work, “wish list” and project schedule to help maximize the $100,000 budget.

Thank fully, much of the team was still focused on making the original concept of the new and improved kitchen a reality for Teen Challenge.  In the initial budget, appliances alone were going to utilize just about the entire budget, accompanied by the new floor, necessary dish washer and 3-basin sink. Pat Julian, from Julian Restaurant Equipment, was kind enough to bring all the new appliances in at whole sale cost! With his generosity, a rippling effect amongst the tradesmen, donors and sub-contractors began, all of whom were kind enough to donate.  Before we knew it, the kitchen had all the wish list items and we were able to accomplish our original design.

**Another BIG THANK YOU to all the contractors for their donations to make this project a reality**