Salvation Army gets helping hand

Employees with the Hilton Garden Inn-University rolled up their sleeves Friday to paint the Salvation Army’s “Children’s Room.” It was all part of a project to better the community.

Each year, the Hilton Hotel challenges employees across the country to get involved and serve the community.

The employees in El Paso chose to paint the children’s room at the Salvation Army building as part of their project.

Children there do homework, get tutoring sessions and unwind in the room.
After much wear and tear, it needed to be revamped.

By Friday afternoon, employees transformed the white bland walls into a colorful playroom. Salvation Army’s Director of Development and Communication, Rose Lucero, says the kids will love it.

“The kids are going to be really surprised, in the past, we’ve had primary colors and it was very much a school-esque looking room and we’re going to try to give it a contemporary look,” Lucero said.

This is the second year the group has volunteered with the Salvation Army. Last year, volunteers painted a total of nine rooms over the course of a couple of weeks.

Simon Hernandez, Director of Sales at the Hilton Garden Inn-University says it’s all worth it once they see the kid’s reactions.

“The light is when you see the staff at the Salvation Army, or even the ones that live here and use it. When they see how much it looks so much better, especially this place, which is for kids, you see their faces and it’s well worth it,” Hernandez said.