WEST OCEAN CITY – Thanks to a grant and the efforts of local volunteers, an area homeless shelter has a new floor.
Last week a crew of volunteers installed a brand new floor in the kitchen and dining room of the main house at Diakonia, the West Ocean City shelter that offers food, counseling and transitional housing. The floor, a wood-looking vinyl tile, was purchased with a $3,200 grant from the Home Depot Foundation.
“This will really help,” said Claudia Nagle, executive director of Diakonia. “We had a lot of flooring issues and this is a high-traffic area.”
Nagle said that through the local Home Depot, Diakonia applied for a grant from the Home Depot Foundation. The foundation, according to its website, is dedicated to offering financial support to projects that relate to the housing needs of veterans. Diakonia, a non-profit that was started by the Mennonite Church more than 40 years ago, has expanded its services in recent years to offer aid to veterans, ensuring they can find housing and have access to their federal benefits.
Once Diakonia was notified that it would receive a grant to cover the cost of materials for a new floor, local contractor Alex Ottenstein offered to install it. With the help of volunteers from Ottenstein’s Premier Flooring — Ray Bolt, Phil Richie, Jim Smith and Harry Eaddy — as well as from Home Depot — Tammy Burrier, William Ludlam, Rob Dunn, Jay Kim, Maggie McConnell and Brian Sippel — the three-day project was completed in a day. The volunteers cleared out the dining room and tore out the old, damaged tiles, replacing them with the new commercial grade tile. They then moved the kitchen equipment into that space and replaced the flooring there.
“We had some structural issues they even fixed,” Nagle said. “It was really great.”
Ottenstein said replacing the floor at Diakonia was one of several community projects he’d participated in. He said he was eager to do anything that would help the organization and raise awareness of its programs.
“Life is not fair, and living it has shown me that I have the ability and determination to help others, so I have an unyielding obligation to do so,” Ottenstein said.
Nagle said she was grateful for the support from Ottenstein and the rest of the local community.
“If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” she said.