MUELLER NICHOLLS DONATES CABINETS TO CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OAKLAND

OAKLAND, CA—November 2010

Every once in awhile, a unique opportunity to give back to the community comes along and grabs us in a way that we can’t ignore. This happened three years ago when Steve Nicholls was visiting the venerable institution that we all know as Children’s Hospital Oakland. Being a facility that serves thousands of school-age children each year, they do have a classroom, which serves as both a home base for teaching, as well as a storage and staging area for the abundant teaching supplies that the teaching staff uses.

When Steve visited, the classroom scene was chaotic, with overflowing shelves, teetering stacks of papers and books, and supplies which obviously lacked a home. Steve asked whether the classroom could use new storage cabinets. The reply was a resounding “YES! PLEASE!”

Fast-forward one year, once the design and shop drawings have been completed, and cabinets have been fabricated. Mueller Nicholls was preparing to install the cabinets, but the team was informed at the last minute that the cabinets could not in fact be installed until the classroom had been upgraded seismically to accept wall-mounted cabinets. Building codes for hospitals are very specific, and the current classroom was not compliant. Progress was halted for over a year, while CHO secured funding for a major seismic upgrade of the classroom, and then performed said upgrades.

Finally, this summer, we were able to install the cabinets, and the classroom was opened once again. CHO held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, thus completing our maiden sojourn into the land of donating in kind to a hospital. Everyone agreed it was worth the wait!