This Saturday RSD will be teaming up with Twisted Hair Salon and Americorps Vista and Americorps NCCC Gold2 and the ENTIRE community of New Orleans to host our first ever school supply drive. It’s at 4824 Prytania between the hours of 11 and 4.

Please bring us stuff… AND GET YOUR HAIRS CUT…

….It could be CLASSROOM SUPPLIES

pens, paper, notebooks, pencils, backpacks, pencil cases, scissors (lefty and righty), glue sticks, erasers, pencil sharpeners, children’s literature, folders (Lisa Frank, Hello Kitty, Spiderman… etc), calculators, rulers… you get the idea

OR

…ART SUPPLIES

          markers, paint, paintbrushes, glitter, crayons, coloured pencils, construction paper, yarn, felt, feathers, beads, macaroni, art books, easels, buttons, cotton balls, popsicle sticks, clothespins, googly eyes (and yes that is the correct spelling… I looked it up and please allow me to share with you the def of googly eyes… Googly eyes or wiggly eyes are large, bulging or rolling craft findings used to imitate eyes. The eyes traditionally are composed of a clear, hard-plastic shell, with a smaller, black plastic disk trapped within. The inner black disk is allowed to move freely within the larger clear plastic shell, which makes the eyes appear to move. Googly eyes are mainly involved in arts and crafts and are sometimes glued to inanimate objects for the purposes of portraying personification and humour….  AWESOME!!!)… but I digress… where was i… oh yes… pipecleaners, ribbon… and on, and on, etc, etc,

          OR

…SPORTS EQUIPMENT

          balls, balls, balls… softballs, basketballs, volley balls, footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, tennis balls, golf balls, cabbage balls, earth balls, kickballs, racquetballs, wiffle balls, lacrosse balls… enough balls…

          jump ropes (16’ for double dutch… cause… “when they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing”)

          gloves, bats, racquets, shoes (new), PARACHUTES!!!

…LAGNAIPPE

          I bet you can think of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of things I’m forgetting… I bet we need them too

I am currently a Corps Member in Americorps NCCC within a team of 10 others who have dedicated their time and energy to serving communities around the U.S.  We are currently in New Orleans, working with the Recovery School District assisting in various projects to better the education environment for the students of New Orleans.  Recently our Americorps team decided to develop a school supply drive for the RSD, asking for any donations, ranging from pencils to sports equipment.

While passing out flyers to local businesses for the drive, I stepped into the Party Basket, a festive party supply store. I began explaining the need for school supplies to Shannon Able and she jumped at the opportunity to donate supplies. She said would be giving me a call when all the supplies were put together. I received a call early the next morning informing me that the donations were ready to be picked up. Shannon had given us an estimate of 6 to 7 boxes of stationary and a bundle full of gift wrap that could be used for arts and crafts.

With this generous donation, we envisioned a project involving students sending letters to those serving over seas in the military. Not only will this engage the children in writing and literacy, geography and global relations but, give those receiving the letters a feeling of hope, honor and a sense of home.

Andre Bennett Americorps NCCC Gold2

Just in time for the holiday season, the Recovery School District of New Orleans has received a generous donation of 150,000 books from Barnes and Noble and Reader to Reader.  AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is very excited to help distribute these books to schools in time for them to be handed them out to students as festive gifts before break.  You may remember Reader to Reader from the Mo Willems Elephant and Piggie Book project… well, they are back with a mission. Teaming up with Barnes and Noble to truck in 2 18 wheelers, that’s 48 pallets, yes 150,000 books… guess what I’m doing next week. Please raise a glass this season for people like Mo and David and Angelo. You make my job easy and challenging, heart warming and back breaking… for this, I thank you. You are righteous.

And when you are at Barnes and Noble, picking up the complete DVD set of both seasons of Pushing Daisies (troy reccomended and approved) or John Irving’s new Book (what is it about him and hands?) , take a minute to thank your bookseller… they were instrumental in making this possible.

oh yeah… and Go Saints

t

Hopefully all of your Thanksgiving’s were filled with turkey or tofurkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, pecan pies and very good company. For many of us here at the Recovery School District the week of Thanksgiving was saturated with post hole diggers, table saws, bright purples, greens, yellows and blues, mulch, the cupid shuffle, red beans, flare, hard work, and ultimately a complete new playground for Coghill Elementary.  So many volunteers came out the day after Thanksgiving to work with the Coghill school community, AmeriCorps, dedicated volunteers, State Farm and the Bayou Classic to provide the Cougars with a new play space to fill the once vacant field behind the school.  Not only did everyone work together to build this playground, but also new benches, picnic tables, a double shade structure, and art were all added to the site.  State Farm and the Bayou Classic have now partnered together with KaBOOM! and our schools for the last 3 years to provide our students with a new, safe place to exercise and play.  Thank You! The enthusiasm that State Farm comes down with for New Orleans, the big game, KaBOOM! and our students radiates into every aspect of the process and especially the build day. This KaBOOM! playground build was especially exciting for the AmeriCorps NCCC team Gold 2, who spent their first week of work, on their first project, of their year of service on site for prep day and build day helping to lead hundreds of volunteers.  Welcome Gold 2 to your project with the Recovery School District and to our city.  Thank you so much to all involved in helping create a new playground for the Coghill Cougars.  A playground is such a simple, yet crucial aspect of the school environment that helps provide students with a reason to be enthused to play, grow and learn.

As if the excitement of one new playground was not enough, KaBOOM! came back the following week to help create another new play space here in New Orleans.  Lakeview Presbyterian Church is now the proud site of a beautiful new playground.  An exceptional thanks must go out to the Junior League of New Orleans who is “committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women and improving our community” and who partnered with the Church in order to ensure the success of the playground.  While talking to one of the members of the church on build day they were eager to share their excitement about not just building a playground for the church, but one that was open to all children in the community to enjoy.  The playground went up on a beautiful site now clad with art by children, benches, new trees, picnic tables painted with checker boards, a shade structure, and a garden space.  Although the skies initially warned of possible snow and a very chilly morning, by the afternoon the sun came out and the fence became lined with removed sweatshirts, jackets and gloves.  Thank you again for all of the volunteers, AmeriCorps, KaBOOM!, Lakeview Presbyterian Church, and the Junior League of New Orleans for helping to create another safe area for our children to play and enjoy. 

We Love You KaBOOM!

Recovery School District will be painting Dr. Charles Drew Elementary, 3819 St Claude, in New Orleans, 9:30am-3:00pm, July 23 through July 25.
Thank you volunteers from: ELCA, Son Servants, AmeriCorps, YouthWorks, KatrinaCorps.

Recovery School District will be painting Dr. Charles Drew Elementary, 3819 St Claude, in New Orleans, 9:30am-3:00pm Monday through Wednesday, July 20, through July 22.

Big thanks to the volunteer teams from Son Servants, Youth Works, Katrina Corps, AmeriCorps.