This morning, it was back home and back to their jobs for most of our Global Hope Crew. The rest of us arrived to the site only to find our young volunteers, already setting up for the workday. John Ernst left, expressing his confidence in his young apprentices, Kyle and Myckal, to use their newly acquired carpentry skills to finish the custom bookcase project.
We had lots of visitors today. Three teachers stopped by with hot beignets and an assortment of juices from Café Du Monde. It was amazing to see how fast one can descend a ladder once the word got out – all of us took a much needed break to enjoy these local treasures. More teachers came by admiring our work and expressed their excitement about the positive impact all the improvement would have on the students.
Our lunch was graced today by a visit from the Reverend and Julia Adams. The warmth and wisdom that these two honored guests add to a room can’t be described. They were touched by the sense of community throughout the halls of this school – so many groups working together – so were we.
Teri Niedospial directed a group of CGR volunteers up and down ladders, touching up walls, scraping and cleaning windows – preparing to “let the sun shine in”.
With the help of our brilliant young students from New College in Sarasota, Mike, Dickie, Ted, Teri and Mary met the challenge of permanently affixing the six piece mural, including a portrait of the school (painted and donated by Global Hope artist, Nancy Gelband). The principal was so touched by this original art that he cleared a place of honor for its display. Nancy’s work has touched so many of our projects; the Community Garden, the Sacred Spaces Fundraiser. She so generously expresses the spirit of Global Hope we now can’t imagine a project without her artistic blessing.
A permanent school sign to replace the vinyl sign that currently hangs over the school’s front door was next on the list. Teri, Jill and Mary devised a plan for production – it was quickly off to the carpenters for cutting and then placed in the hands of a group of volunteer art students for design. A few suggestions and a lot of empowerment set the project into motion. In two days, these young volunteers will present their completed sign to Troy. With a permanent new hand painted sign to replace the flimsy post-Katrina vinyl version – these art students can be proud of their part in helping this school to put the past behind them.
One more thing on this busy Monday. It was Dickie, Teddy, John and Troy’s honor to deliver a professional pitching machine, generously donated by Roy Spencer, to the Cohen High School’s baseball team. With plans to compete at the state level this year and recently faced with the breakdown of their own machine – the timing was perfect. Excitement was in the air as the entire team came out to meet our delivery crew. Roy, your gift touched many – thank you!
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I need a copy of the picture of me and Teddy hugging. Is he on his tip toes?
If you zoom in closely – it appears one foot is flat and the other on tiptoes. Hmmm . . . is that how frogs stand when they hug????