Designer Catherine Fowlkes consults a floor plan while selecting furniture for the Cooper family
On May 8, A Wider Circle is partnering with our friends at Bozzuto — along with an abundance of sponsors, volunteers, pro bono designers, and movers — for Home Reimagined: A One Day Home Makeover Event.
This year, 35 families will come home to spaces that are not only filled with furniture, but filled with care, intention, and dignity.
One of those families is the Coopers: Sofia* lives with her two sons, ages 13 and 8, and her partner in Washington, DC. The Coopers’ pro bono designer is Catherine Fowlkes, one of the founders of Fowlkes Studio, an architecture and interior design firm.
Two weeks before the big day, Fowlkes joins Lara Gagrica, A Wider Circle’s Director of Home Reimagined, to select furniture and decor for the Coopers’ home. Their first stop is the warehouse at A Wider Circle’s administrative building, where couches, dressers, dishes, rugs, and more are set aside for designers to choose for the participating families.
Currently, the Coopers don’t have a place to lounge or to sit down and eat together, but Fowlkes hopes to find more than just the basics. “They need more things to make it feel like a home,” she says.
Being a mom of two boys herself, Fowlkes has a keen sense of what will make the space both functional and special. She’s especially excited to find something that will support Sofia’s own sense of home. “She was interested in having a sewing table. I totally sympathize with needing that creative outlet.”
Fowlkes first participated in Home Reimagined last year. She had reached out to A Wider Circle’s Volunteer Manager to see if her design skills could help families receiving furniture, and she was quickly connected with Gagrica. “Not only did she find me because she had the same idea, but she has also probably found a third of our designers for this year,” Gagrica shares.
“In our field, we see so much…not waste, but inefficiency,” Fowlkes explains. “So it’s just such a natural partnership.” Via a networking group of interior designers and architects called Designing Women, she also encouraged colleagues to sign on as pro bono designers for this year’s event. “It’s just a very elegant solution to reuse these items in such a wonderful way.”
She’s not alone in her efforts. This year, 31 other design firms and 23 moving companies are volunteering their time and talents. Additionally, 18 local companies are sponsoring the event, and several are sending employee volunteers to help set up homes on the big day.
Employees at Bozzuto, the event’s premier sponsor, will serve as volunteers in 10 of the 35 homes. “At Bozzuto, we are passionate about making a difference and creating meaningful impact in our communities,” says Chintimini Keith, Bozzuto’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications. “Our partnership with A Wider Circle’s Home Reimagined directly addresses housing needs and recognizes that everyone deserves a place to call home, a place to find sanctuary.”
Back at A Wider Circle, Fowlkes and Gagrica move on to the warehouse at our Center for Community Service—and make an exciting discovery among the stacks of donated furniture: a black sewing table. Gagrica quickly sticks a label on it to ensure it’s set aside for the Coopers. With every carefully chosen piece, it’s clear that Home Reimagined will be more than a makeover for the Coopers and dozens of other families. It will be the start of a new chapter filled with comfort and possibility.
*Names changed to protect privacy.
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