The five schools were elated to have Patrick Flaherty (our company’s owner) come present them with a check of the total donation towards the field trip.  They were so grateful and the kids loved the big check!!

Today’s image is from Black Elementary.  The back row features principal, Melissa Ledoux, the amazing first grade teachers, and their wonderful assistant principal.  The middle and bottom rows feature just a handful of the students who were sponsored to go on the field trip… and Patrick!  They are obviously still loving their “My Day at The Museum” t-shirts!

Stay tuned for photos from Patrick’s visits to the other four schools!

Here we are with our final installment of our field trip photos. It has truly been an honor and privilege to sponsor these five schools and to give the gifts of memories and learning to such wonderful first grade students!

These teachers are awesome!!

Sweet smile!

This teacher from Black Elementary told her students, “Let’s go slowly.  When you take time to look closely at nature, there’s always a surprise!”

The second field trip day included Adam Elementary (maroon shirts) and Black Elementary (black shirts) at the science museum.  These were also two wonderful groups of children, teachers and chaperones!

After this installment of photos, you can anticipate one more!

Enjoy!

This student below apparently likes to be different by wearing his t-shirt backwards!

Sweet friends about to share a fun memory!

This little friend landed right on my knee and camped out there for awhile!

This fun teacher from Adam was also attracting some butterflies!

The image below re-emphasizes our thanks to the amazing teachers and chaperones that came to share this experience with their students!

I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s post!  Today’s installment of photos will be sure to make you smile!!  Yesterday’s post and today’s are from the field trips of Moore Elementary (navy shirts), Hamilton Elementary (red shirts) and Millsap Elementary (royal blue shirts).

These groups were incredibly well-behaved and so grateful for this gift!

Again, we could not have made it happen without the wonderful staff, administration and chaperones from these wonderful schools!

Enjoy today’s photos!  But stay tuned for even more sweet faces from the second day at the museum!

Below: meet Charlie.  He was quite the hit with the kids!

The image below is our FAVORITE shot of the entire two days.  So much wonder and excitement and awe in her eyes as she experiences first hand all she’s been learning in the classroom about butterflies.  Worth every penny!

These first grade teachers are the best!!

The image below is of a cacao tree… aka CHOCOLATE!!  Who knew chocolate was being grown in the butterfly exhibit??

Last year, when we heard about the school district budget cuts removing field trip opportunities, we sponsored the entire first grade class of Millsap Elementary to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science for a day.  It was such a huge success that we decided to do it again this year – but multiplied!!  We connected with FIVE elementary schools in our district who jumped at the opportunity!  We sponsored each of their first grade classes to go to the science museum all within two days.

The students have been learning about butterflies, so we also sponsored their admission into the butterfly exhibit.  This was by far the hit of the day!  As you can see in the photos, it was quite a magical experience for the kids to see the butterflies up close and personal.

We could not have pulled this off without the administration, first grade teachers and chaperones from Adam, Millsap, Hamilton, Moore and Black!  More huge thank you’s go to Becky Diaz, field trip coordinator with the science museum, Dayna Myers with Select Screen Printing for printing the t-shirts and Randy Olive of Randy Olive Photography for the fun t-shirt design!

Enjoy these images from Day 1 – but stay tuned for many more photos on later blog entries!

We are so excited to share the AFTER photos of Angelia’s new floors! Remember her before photos? Thanks to her friend, Summer Darnell with Montgomery County United Way, who lovingly nominated this family, we were able to give them the gift of new floors. Prior to this, they were walking on plywood due to a bad leak. Not only do the floors look beautiful, but they also make her home look bigger and brighter!

Below is a group shot of Angie and her beautiful family – along with Summer (who nominated her, on the left) and Ellen from Flaherty’s Flooring (on the right).

Before we left, we went outside for a family picture.  Angie and her girls.  Aren’t they beautiful?

And last but not least, as we were all giving big hugs goodbye, I snapped a photo of Angie and her sweet friend, Summer.

What a blessing to be a part of the transformation of this home and to get to know this sweet family.  I am so proud to work for a company who values giving back!

Meet Chris – our third and final Christmas Floors winner.

Chris is a cub scout troop leader of one of the largest troops in Texas. He is always giving back to his community and is a positive role model to his scout troop.  In fact, when we arrived at his house to measure his two bathrooms for new tile, he was working on making plaques for his troop members.

Chris’ wife is a preschool teacher in Copperfield and also loves to “give back.”  What a deserving family!

Chris was nominated by his good friend, Jonathan, whose son is in Chris’ cubscout troop.  Jonathan wrote such a kind letter on his behalf, and we are honored to give them new floors!

Chris’ Bathrooms – BEFORE pictures!

Our second very deserving finalist for the Christmas Floors is Angelia.  She was nominated by Summer D. with Montgomery County United Way.  Angelia is a single mom who has adopted three of her nieces and is working very hard to provide a good life for them.  Due to a bad leak, she only has floors in half of her house and the rest is plywood.We are honored to give this gift to Angelia and her three girls.

Before pictures:

Patrick measures the living room, breakfast room and kitchen for new floors!

Meet our first finalist! Melissa!

Melissa was nominated by her good friend, Ellen D., who wrote us a beautiful letter explaining why Melissa deserved some extra holiday cheer this Christmas.  Melissa is a mother of four beautiful and talented children.  She graciously and lovingly cared for her amazing husband, Dan, who was very ill for quite some time.  Dan passed away in June.

Melissa is a 12^th grade teacher at Cy-Lakes High School in Cy-Fair ISD and still devotes much time and energy to her church, Community of Faith, hosting youth group Bible studies at her home.

Before pictures:

Here, Melissa poses with Patrick Flaherty in front of her beautiful Christmas tree!

Patrick measuring the guest / kids’ bathroom for new tile!

Patrick measuring Melissa’s entryway and son’s bedroom.

Patrick measures the dining room!

Guest / Kids’ Bathroom BEFORE picture!!

Entryway BEFORE picture!!

Dining room BEFORE picture!

Melissa’s son’s bedroom BEFORE picture!!

Kitchen BEFORE picture!!

Stay tuned to see the progress of Melissa’s floor makeover as well as to meet our other winners – and best of all: the AFTER pictures!!

A few months ago, we at Flaherty’s Flooring came up with an idea.  What if we could GIVE away some new floors to a family who deserved a little extra holiday cheer this Christmas?  This idea struck a chord with us, as this is part of why we do what we do.  Through the month of October, we received numerous heartfelt letters nominating friends and loved ones and sharing a piece of their story.  As each letter came in, we knew this would be a very hard decision to make!  A selection committee was formed, and they met to read each nomination and choose our finalists.  The meeting lasted quite awhile as each nominee was so deserving!

We will be introducing the winners of our Christmas Floor giveaway right here on our blog so you can learn their stories and follow the progress of their new floors!

STAY TUNED!!