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The construction crews wrapped up just past 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. Members of our staff took a few hours on Sunday to restock the kitchen.

Here’s the before…

And, here is the after:

The ceiling is done! There is now drop ceiling through the kitchen and dining areas, lobby and corridors leading away from the lobby.

New lighting fixtures have been installed, tripling the amount of lighting power in each area.

As for the kitchen, the construction crews worked until 7 p.m. Friday. They broke for lunch a few minutes ago with the wall cabinets hung and about 70 percent of the base cabinets installed.

On tap for the day is the installation of the sink, faucet and garbage disposal, new appliances (refrigerator and range; the microwave and exhaust fan are in), pantry cabinet (pictured at the very bottom), the remaining base cabinets and countertop. The crew is confident that everything will be finished today, leaving Monday for cleaning and sanitizing.

The appliances have just been delivered and unpacked, and our old appliances carted away. Currently, the new Maytag microwave, fridge and range are in the sitting room awaiting installation.

The cabinets are about 25 percent installed. Looks like a full day ahead of the crew tomorrow.

The first crew arrives Saturday at 7:45 a.m. Check for an update tomorrow around lunchtime.

The Craftmaid Cabinets truck is out front of our West Kirkpatrick Street location as we speak and the new cabinets are being unloaded. It looks like we’ll have appliances delivered within the next couple of hours. Could we *gasp* be ahead of schedule?

Things are coming together in the day program. The ceiling in the hallway and lobby will be done by early evening. Here’s a look:

In the kitchen, demolition is complete and everything has been cleaned out. New GFCI breakers have been installed and tile has been installed in the exposed area between the counters and cabinets.

The crews will be hanging ceiling rails this morning in the lobby and adjacent corridors. However, the early morning noise is all about the kitchen demolition. A second team is ripping cabinetry and countertops out to make way for tomorrow’s installation.

You can also view a video clip (allow a few seconds for the video to load, depending on your Internet connection) of this morning’s cabinet demo!

Below top: The wall cabinets are down! Below bottom:The dishwashers are disconnected. The dishwahsers are relatively new and are the only pieces to be salvaged.

The day program closed at 3 p.m. and it only took an hour to clear out all of the chairs and tables from the activities and dining areas. The kitchen was packed the day before, meaning that construction crews could get right to work.

The kitchen will be completely demolished on Friday, but some staff members took a therapeutic swing of the sledgehammer last evening. Below, Cathy James (our CEO and former day program director) and Melissa McMahon (current day program director) bid farewell to the kitchen in their own special way.

Back in June, we told you about CNY Community Foundation’s commitment to our kitchen renovation. The project is slated for August 19-24. The existing kitchen will be demolished to make way for new cabinets, fixtures and appliances which meet the needs of the day program staff and the 25-30 participants served each day.

We’ll be posting updates of the renovation, with photos and updates of what’s been done. But, as valued readers of our news blog, we offer you a sneak peak of what’s to come. Click the link to go inside and see the schematics of new kitchen, provided by our friends at The Home Depot store in Camillus, N.Y.

It seems unfair to bring up the subject of pizza during the middle of the day, but we want to thank some people for helping out with Memory Walk.

A couple of weeks ago, we told you to be on the lookout for a special Memory Walk sticker on your pizza boxes. The following pizza shops and restaurants in the Mohawk Valley and Syracuse areas will be distributing our stickers in the coming weeks with their orders…

In the Mohawk Valley: Alberto’s (Utica), Antonella’s (North Utica), Arcuri’s (New Hartford), Capri (Oriskany), Defazio’s (New Hartford), Grande’s (Clinton), ItalianChef (New Hartford), Italian Deli Plus (Marcy), Java Chalet (New Hartford), Mojo’s (Clinton), O’Scugnizzo’s (Washington Mills) and Tony’s (Utica).

In Syracuse: Alessandro’s Pizza (Syracuse), Bianchi’s Pizza Pad (Solvay), Cam’s Pizzeria (Camillus), Checker’s Pizza (Syracuse, D’Agostino’s (Liverpool), DiBello’s Pizza (Syracuse), Dough Boy’s (Baldwinsville), Mark’s Pizzeria (Syracuse and Skaneateles), New York Roast (Syracuse), Pappa Chubb’s (Camillus) and Valentine’s (Skaneateles).

If you have not registered for the Greater Syracuse Memory Walk, then Tuesday is the day for you! Our first-ever Memory Walk Blitz Day is July 28. From 7-10 a.m., Chapter staff and volunteers will be at Tim Hortons locations throughout Onondaga County to register people for Memory Walk. MOViN 100.3/96.5 and morning show hosts Skip and Heather will provide updates from each location and keep the momentum going.

Visit us at the following locations:

• 985 East Brighton Avenue (near the intersection of Rte. 173/East Seneca Turnpike) in Syracuse.
• 6227 Thompson Road (between Carrier Circle and I-690) in Dewitt.
• 7035 Manlius Center Road in East Syracuse.
• 911 North Main Street (at Sweetheart Corners) in North Syracuse.

The first five people to register at each location will receive prizes courtesy of MOViN 100!

(Photo: Syracuse.com)