EDEN owns more than 80 properties throughout Cuyahoga County, including single-family homes, apartments, townhouses and group homes. All those properties add up to miles of walls that regularly need a fresh coat of paint. Thankfully, the agency can rely on hard-working painters like Steve Crockett to get the job done.
Steve joined EDEN as a painter in July 2006 and received the employee of the month award for his work ethic, positive attitude and favorable tenant reviews. Steve and the other painters are responsible for painting every apartment and home that EDEN owns. Units are painted before new tenants move in and every three years thereafter to ensure that the agency’s clients, who are low-income and diagnosed with mental health illnesses, live in well-maintained homes.
“We make sure tenants are happy with the end product,” Steve says. In fact, his favorite part of the job is watching tenants react to their newly painted homes. He explains that when tenants see their apartments clean and freshly painted, it encourages them to take better care of their units. “It raises their morale,” he says.
Occasionally, Steve comes across a unit painted creatively by tenants. He recalls one apartment that featured a fire-orange bathroom and purple walls decorated with butterflies and handprints. “It was like an artist’s place,” Steve says. “I almost didn’t want to destroy it.” But, of course, the apartment needed to be transformed with a coat of neutral paint for the next tenant – who might not have appreciated the butterflies and handprints.
Steve has worked as a painter for years, and he’s glad to currently work for a nonprofit like EDEN. “I like the growth process,” he says of the agency’s recent and rapid expansion, including the new supportive housing project, Emerald Commons. “It’s a pretty impressive time.”
In his free time, Steve enjoys fishing, is devoted to his religion, and loves to travel. Toronto is his favorite place to visit, and he makes it there two or three times a year. At EDEN, though, he’s glad to be a part of an agency that acknowledges his efforts. “I’d like to thank them for recognizing me for the work I do,” he says of the agency’s management. “I appreciate seeing I mean something to this company.”
He’s also proud to represent his fellow painters as the first to win the employee of the month award. The painting team, he explains, is hard-working, and he’s glad they received some recognition.
“I felt I did something for the team,” he says. “I am honored to represent them.”
