The Painting Pathways Clubhouse moved into its’ brand new facility at 1226 Washington Street in Manitowoc late last month.
Executive Director, Jennifer Schmoldt, tells Seehafer News they had a groundbreaking on June 1st and Bill Lorrigan Construction finished the project recently. “With the beautiful design, very user friendly and functional…we probably have about twice the square footage we had in our previous building or about 5,000 square feet,” she says of the upgrade.
When asked about literally tearing down physical barriers and other obstacles faced by those with mental illness, Schmoldt said, “Very much so, and I think the new space is very welcoming, the natural light coming in from the windows..we try to keep it very airy and bright. That’s especially important this time of year for our clients with season affected depression and winter coming on, it gets dark early.”
Schmoldt explains the idea behind Painting Pathways is that members and staff “will run the clubhouse.”
“We’re a business essentially and we [staff and members] do everything together we have to clean, shovel snow in the winter, write our own grants, plan and carry out fundraising opportunities, and in doing so..the members feel a sense of belonging.”
She tells us the average daily attendance pre-Covid was between 28 and 32, but now with restrictions in place, they have to limit attendance to 15 people in the morning session and 15 in the afternoon.
