When you think about supporting your local hospital, you might think about giving a donation or joining the hospital’s volunteer program. But the team from Gateway Painting recently did something just a little different for our patients and team members. They visited Grand River Hospital to brighten one of the mental health care units with a fresh coat of paint as a part of the Gateway Gives Back program.

“For us and many of our staff at Gateway, COVID kind of brought to light our own mental health struggles, and we just wanted to say thank you to those people who were kind of helping everybody with those struggles,” says Sara Armstrong, one of the owners at Gateway.

The team’s generosity — and painting skills! — was hugely appreciated by everyone on the Hospital’s mental health unit. Patients and hospital team members alike came up to thank the Gateway team members while they painted. Some of the patients even went so far as to create and give thank you cards to the team to express their gratitude. And, the experience had a profound impact on the Gateway team as well.

“A few employees who were actually working on the project, after doing so, opened up to us about how it was a little therapeutic for them to be there, to give back — for their mental health’s sake but also just for the idea of just donating time and giving back to the community that they work and live in,” Sara recounts.

Sara and her business partner Jeff recognize that they wouldn’t be able to do the great work their company is known for and reach success without the support of the community and their fantastic team of employees. Their desire to reciprocate and be in service of those who have been so good to them and their business is at the heart of what motivates them to give back.

“It’s just sort of been a way to say thank you for all the success that this region has given to us over the years, and we’re just grateful for that,” says Sara.