A personal connection brought more than a dozen members of the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC)Youth Council to Family House for a day of service in late April. The chairwoman of the SEANC Youth Council, Felicia Chiambiro, wanted to share the rewards her family received during their stays at Family House during her late grandmother’s cancer treatment at UNC Hospitals.

Felicia felt the love and kindness received from Family House staff and volunteers was too good to keep to herself, so she proposed two projects to the organization — a day of service project for the SEANC Youth Council (a sub group of SEANC members under 40) and a yearlong project collecting Family House wish list items for the entire SEANC organization.

With a membership of 55,000, SEANC is the leading state employees’ association in the South and works on behalf of state employees and retirees in the legislature.  Known for strength, action and results, SEANC members also take pride in public service. That ethos was very much in evidence the day the SEANC Youth Council volunteered at Family House. They power washed the exterior stairwells and patio in the interior courtyard; weeded the beds around the house and walkways; created a pictorial inventory of furniture in guest rooms; folded and collated printed materials and ended the day with a wonderful cookout for guests.

In addition to the Youth Council’s day of service, individual districts collected donations for the house that combined, will help fund a family’s stay for 20 nights. At the statewide SEANC conference in September, the entire organization will present Family House with items from our wish list, culminating their yearlong service project. We anticipate a truckload of donations!  What an inspiring tale of a former Family House guest paying it forward.