Miracle Manor Provides Homes for Families with Children Battling Life Threatening Illnesses with Help from BrightView

More than 100 volunteers from BrightView Landscape Services company donated their skills, time and resources to transform Miracle Manor, a newly renovated 28,000-square-foot, 12-unit apartment complex that provides homes to families at risk of homelessness while their child is receiving treatment at CHOC children’s hospital.

Miracle Manor is the newest endeavor from Miracles for Kids, a non-profit organization that provides financial aid, health, wellness and advocacy services to families in Southern California with children battling life threatening illnesses. Thanks to this project and donations from other community partners, Miracle Manor’s renovations, valued at more than $1 million, are being completed at minimal cost to the organization. 

“When I was introduced to the Miracle Manor project, I was instantly inspired and we decided to rally together our teams across the region to support this endeavor,” said BrightView Vice President Chuck DeGarmo.

DeGarmo and his Southern California regional teams quickly united to create the exterior design for a colorful, safe and healing landscape. Local BrightView teams then sourced all of the materials and donated their time to provide instillation services. 

“Fighting a life-threatening illness requires an immense time commitment and often results in depleted savings or income loss,” said Autumn Strier, CEO of Miracles for Kids. “Thanks to the generosity of community partners like BrightView, Miracle Manor will provide these families with not just housing stability but also convenient access to CHOC children’s hospital and a family-friendly community during their time of need.”

In addition to their pro-bono services, BrightView volunteers completed final touches on the landscape and prepared each apartment unit by building furniture, decorating kitchens, cleaning the interior and assembling welcome baskets filled with basic essentials for families moving in at the end of the month. BrightView’s Design Team  also designed a 170-foot mural, depicting a day in the life at Miracle Manor, which teams painted during their volunteer day.

The first five Miracle Manor families moved in this past December, and an additional seven families are now able to move in upon completion this April, bringing Miracle Manor to 100-percent occupancy.

For BrightView, this project is an extension of a partnership with Miracle for Kids that began in early 2015. The company held a previous volunteer day with over 60 employees last December to install phase one of the landscape and prepare the first five units. BrightView’s employees also held a gift drive to fulfill holiday wish lists for the over 200 families that Miracles for Kids supports across the region.

“It’s inspiring to have the opportunity to utilize our skills to support our community,” DeGarmo said. “The work done here at Miracle Manor is humbling to everyone involved and as a company we will continue our commitment to take care of our communities by lending our expertise.”

Thanks to the generosity of community partners like BrightView, Miracle Manor will provide these families with not just housing stability but also convenient access to CHOC children’s hospital and a family-friendly community during their time of need.
- Autumn Strier, CEO of Miracles for Kids