We here at Ireland’s Finest launched our “Hard Times, Soft Hearts” contest on September 1st, 2011. The contest encouraged people in the Denver area to tell us the story of individuals or businesses that have fallen on hard times. These worthy candidates would qualify for a free exterior painting. The candidates’ profiles we received were people that had come into a difficult period, were low-income residents or gave selflessly back to their community. The contest accepted nominations through January 31st, 2012 and the actual painting of the winner’s house will now start on the first week of September 2012.

Giving back to the local community is what Ireland’s Finest set out to do when we came up with our “Hard Times Soft Hearts” contest. We have been a professional residential and commercial painting contractor here in Denver for over 15 years so we wanted to give back to the community that has supported us over the years. “Choosing a winner was the hardest thing we had to do,” said Andrew Toole, Ireland’s Finest’s owner. “There were so many worthy candidates with some tough stories, but I think we chose a very excellent nominee in a historic area of Denver who also gives back their community.”

We chose the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church to receive a free exterior painting facelift of their church. We will provide all the painting labor while Benjamin Moore Paints will also participate by donating all the paint. In addition, Andrew and Ireland’s Finest expanded the work to include carpentry, welding, gutter installation and trash removal. We reached out to other local contractors to provide these services for New Jerusalem. They include Burning Metal Welding, Weaver Construction, Weaver Custom Contracting, Mile High Gutters, Signs by Tomorrow and Denver Disposal.

New Jerusalem is not only a church but doubles as a shelter for homeless women. Their focus is to provide a safe place to stay while encouraging them to enroll in drug treatment programs and social programs as needed. Their mission is monumental and fraught with challenges so building maintenance is not always a priority. The exterior painting of the church is only one of the major projects to be addressed. Ireland’s Finest and our partners have come together to transform the current building into a beautiful setting for New Jerusalem to provide their much-needed work.