picture this: 300+ elementary and middle school students line up by class for their morning announcements, and 120 volunteers from the community and The Home Depot surround them for our opening ceremony. the energy was incredible... the middle school dance group led us all in a morning stretch/warm-up. then, throughout the day, all the students participated in "play enhancement projects" (or side projects), like a beautiful mural, a stepping stones project, kids' workshop projects from The Home Depot (i.e. bird houses, etc.), and a photodocumentary project of the day's events... our (adult) volunteers helped with the kids, mounted tiles from a fundraiser, did landscaping, built 2 picnic tables and 2 planter benches, moved 290 cubic yards of engineered wood fiber into a 100 x 50 area, and built an INCREDIBLE playground in just 6 hours!!... at the end of the day, all those same 300+ students came out for our closing Board-cutting ceremony, and they were just bursting with excitement. it was so powerful to have them come out at the end, especially for volunteers to see what and who they'd been working so hard for all day... lastly, the school's choir sang "Rainbow Connection," and the school's principal cut the board amid Silly String, noise makers, kazoos, streamers, clapping, and The Home Depot cheer.
it was such an awesome build that it will be next to impossible to match/beat. i loved the school, the planning committee chairs, my Build Captains (volunteer team leaders), my installer, my Second, and most everyone else. everything ran very smoothly, and if it didn't, my volunteers made up for it... not to mention it was such a beautiful day with perfect weather... it sure will be tough not to compare all other builds to this one.
well, i am beyond tired right now, and i must go to bed... good night.
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