Law enforcement, health professionals pick up tools to renovate children’s rooms for MLK Day
While people tuned in to the presidential inauguration or celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a team of police officers and health professionals picked up paintbrushes and drills Monday to build bedrooms for several families in Modesto, Ceres and Manteca.
Around 80 volunteers from local law enforcement agencies, Kaiser Permanente Central Valley, HandsOn Central California and the Healthy Room Project assisted six families’ 17 children, ages 2 to 14.
The renovations involved installing new beds, desks, dressers, lamps and bedding and applying fresh paint.
The Healthy Room Project is a nonprofit community policing initiative that helps create safe spaces for at-risk children in vulnerable communities nationwide.
The project has helped more than 250 kids through the work of over 700 police officers and 2,500 volunteers throughout the years, and is funded through donations and a violence prevention grant.
Jasmine Martinez of Modesto, whose family received renovations, said she heard about the program and was recommended by her child’s teacher.
Martinez said prior to the renovations, the room for her children and niece had only one bunk bed that had two full mattresses for four children. This caused a lot of fighting among them. With this project, all will have their own beds.
“I feel very thankful and I feel like it’s very special,” Martinez said. “I think the kids are already excited and very thankful, too. Soon they will put their own little touch on their bed frame and color it with stickers and all of that.”
Working in another household, Capt. Chris Adams said the Modesto Police Department has teamed up with the Healthy Room Project for a few years to build rooms across the city and the state. Officers typically identify and evaluate the families in need and reach out to the families to see if they’re willing to participate.
Weeks prior, officers and other volunteers went to the houses to measure spaces and examine conditions before choosing the furniture and other needs for the renovations.
“This particular household we are at in southeast Modesto, one of our officers came to a call of service here before Christmas,” Adams said. “They met the family and fell in love with them. The kids were great. We realized there was probably a need for what ... the Healthy Room Project could do.”
Yvalani Sandoval is an outpatient pharmacy technician for Kaiser Permanente who decided to volunteer with her two children.
Throughout the day, Sandoval and 12 other volunteers worked in a Modesto home by vacuuming and cleaning up trash. Afterward, they painted walls while eight more volunteers arrived later to build furniture on the driveway, such as desks, dressers and beds.
“I barely started working for Kaiser about a year ago,” she said. “It’s something different that they do in the community so I thought why not branch out and be able to do things with Kaiser in the community.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM.
