Day Two

Today was incredible. We went to Schaumberg Elementary School to build a playground with Kaboom! It's an organization that seeks to have a safe place to play within walking distance of every child in America. They were trying to build 100 play- grounds in 100 days, and we were number 79.

I was put on the mulching crew and carried/spread so much mulch I thought my hands were going to fall off. It was amazing though. I talked with the vice superintendent of the school, a few teachers, some parents, neighbors and of course the kids. They all had incredible stories to share. One lady came out who just lived nearby and wanted to help. One of the teacher's mothers came to help. The teacher lived just a few blocks away from where the levees broke. The school itself was under 6-8 feet of water.

The kids were so excited about the playground. Their enthusiasm was contagious - long after I knew my muscles were done, I was so proud to be a part of that day. I carried the one boy, Willy, across the playground on my back even though I could barely hold him up. The kids were so excited to be helping build the playground - I can't imagine what they'll do once they can actually play on it. We really bonded with a few of the kids, and I know that we made a difference. I feel like they were so grateful and happy to be at school, which is probably something that will help them tremendously in the future. Making school a good place to be is a big step toward keeping them in school and is a step toward making the community whole again.

The superintendent told me that all 400 seats in the school are full right now, after just opening back up in the fall. When people come back to their neighborhood - which is still happening slowly - they sometimes have to be turned away and sent to a different school because Schaumberg is at capacity.

Lauren and Beth built benches to go around some of the shade tree trunks in the area. They did a lot of work on that.

Adam and Craig - and a few others - worked on assembling the playground equipment. There were a lot of people there that day. It seemed like there were a million AmeriCorps workers out, plus all of the other people that showed up. I think the assembly part seemed hardest.

At the end of the day, it felt really good to be able to accomplish something so big. The kids got to help design the play- ground, they helped build it, and they'll get to play on it. Their excitement and positive energy proved to me that I made the right decision in coming down to New Orleans. Anybody can make a difference in someone's life, and I really believe that we have made an impact on all of the kids from that school.

It was a good day.