DESIGN PROFILE
DOING THE RIGHT THING WITH DESIGN dwell with dignity, a secret to happiness
BY DOUGLAS KING
happiness was to create home environments for families that would help them thrive and grow.
Dallas Style & Design wanted
to learn more about this won- derful organization and asked Robison to explain all she has accomplished and still plans to do.
Explain the mission statement of Dwell with Dignity? Dwell with Dignity’s mission
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is to help families escape poverty and homelessness through design—one household at a time. We believe that when we have the opportunity to change a family’s environment, we have the opportunity to change their lives.
Lisa Robison, founder and president of Dwell with Dignity (DwD), launched the design- centric philanthropic venture when her youngest child was going into kindergarten and the professional interior designer was contemplating her next career option. After taking off nearly 10 years from professional practice to raise her children, Robison was influenced by a book she read by Oprah Winfrey. In the book, Winfrey writes that if you can find what you are passionate about, what makes your heart beat fast, what you are talented at, and figure
out how to give that back to your community, then you have found the secret to happiness. This made Robison think about the role of interior design as it affects the quality of peo- ple’s lives. Our environment has such a profound impact on who we are. She thought: “Wouldn’t it be a huge gift to help those who need it the most but can afford it the least? Wouldn’t it have a life-changing impact?” The result was to ask her husband for the nest egg to launch Dwell with Dignity as a birthday gift. Robison decided then and there that her secret to
How do you select the families you help?
The families we serve have been nominated to us through social service agencies that have programs in place to help them become self-sufficient. Families seek help from agencies that address issues like domestic violence, generational poverty, drug abuse, sex trafficking and homeless teenage mothers. Partner agencies are able to identify mothers with children who have succeeded in their programs and have shown the grit and determination to change their circumstances. Our most typical family
consists of a mother who has children and is moving into her very first home after receiving help from one of our partner agencies. She has saved for first and last month’s rent, has a job, and has the financial ability to support her family, but she doesn’t have the economic resources to provide a home interior for them. Oftentimes these moms are only able to buy a mattress or two, a TV and a few household items. This is not the kind of environment that reflects a thriving family life.
What is the process of a project?
The first step is meeting the family and determining their needs. We like to know how the family lives and what is important to them. For example, do the children have hobbies or like particular sports? Do they like to play games as a family? What are their favorite colors? We then take measurements of the space, put a furniture plan on CADD and get to work putting together our design. We plan a complete home interior designed to help this family thrive and grow. We install furniture, draperies, art- work, rugs and linens. We com- pletely stock the kitchen with pots and pans, kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies and even fill the pantry and fridge with food. We always leave the first night’s
Photography courtesy of Dwell with Dignity
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