They would like help reorganizing the soup kitchen,” said Christopher Peacock, referring to the Open Door Shelter in Norwalk, which provides more than 500 meals a day to the growing number of needy in the community. He and his wife, Jayne, had just visited the location. “But it doesn’t need reorganizing; it needs to be completely replaced!” he continued. ■ A renovation of this magnitude meant tearing out everything, then cleaning and refurbishing whatever could be saved. Walls, floors and storage cabinetry had to be built, and new commercial cooking equipment purchased. Additionally, the dining and serving area had to be renovated to accommodate more people. ■ Typically one would expect a project like this to take several weeks. But this had to be done with volunteers and no money in just five days. And meals still had to be served! So the über designer and CEO of Christopher Peacock Home decided to spearhead the project and sent out the call to neighbors and friends. ■ Alongside Christopher Peacock and his staff, CTC&G staffers and others in the design community (such as architect Christopher Pagliaro) took shifts throughout the five days, many bringing their kids along to help out. Part of our company’s philosophy is to support local causes that make a difference in people’s lives, and we have helped raise millions of dollars for them during the past 10 years, but there was something really satisfying about rolling up our sleeves, getting our hands dirty and making the transformation happen! ■ See all the fun and the final result on cottagesgardens.com.