LAUREL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GETS A NEW PLAYGROUND THANKS TO 221 COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS

From: Eileen Collins, LES PTA Treasurer and Playground Project Chairperson

First, I want to thank all of you for making our playground build an exciting, wonderful, community build event. I believe that the final volunteer count was at 221. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to all of those who participated in planning the children's events, to the beautification team, to the build captains and construction volunteers, to the component teams to the post/deck teams to the outdoor classroom teams, to the food and safety teams, to the volunteer recruitment and management teams, to the concrete and borders teams, to the planning teams, to the City of Laurel (Mayor and City Council, Public Works and Parks and Rec) and Southern Management (Spruce Up Our Schools team), Lanham Construction, Legends Builders, Mike Collins, Modell's, Laurel VFD, Executive Electrolysis, PNC, Laurel School of Music, Patrons for Peace, Freedom Landscaping and Construction, Exec-U Lawn, Daycon, Lowe's, American Legion Post 60 and the Ladies' Auxiliary, Laurel Board of Trade, DF Foundation, Jim Rosapepe, Tom Dernoga, to the volunteers with no ties at all to Laurel Elementary School or even Laurel itself, and most especially to KaBOOM! and Stonyfield Farms for giving Laurel Elementary School the opportunity to complete this massive overhaul of our playgrounds. We were blessed with beautiful sunny skies to complete our tasks. The final group of about 6 volunteers left around 7 or 7:30. The playground is up except for the tetherball and one trash can (but only because we ran out of concrete for the second time). Some nuts and bolts have to be tightened and the mulching and borders need to be completed, the concrete has to dry as well as our inspection by the certified playground specialist. But it is DONE!

Laurel Elementary School Gets New Playground

Laurel Elementary School Gets New Playground
By: Esthela Camacho-Vinueza

Laurel Elementary School needs volunteers on May 30, 2009, to assist in building our new playground. In order for this playground to be built in 1 day, 200 volunteers are needed. Volunteers will be divided into teams of 10 or 15 to accomplish this task. Please contact laurelespta@gmail.com or call the school at 301-497-3660 and leave your name and contact number with Ms. Camacho. The following team descriptions can be used as a guide to decide which volunteer opportunity best suits you. There are jobs for everyone! Fundraising: helping to offset costs associated with our build. Food: helping to secure and serve food for the volunteers on build day . Recruitment: helping to spread the word that we need volunteers, will also help with organizing/registering volunteers on build day. Construction: actually putting the structure together, we still need about 5 more build captains and members for all teams. Team members will also help in securing tools for build day.

Youth Activities: develop and implement youth activities for the children at the school on Build Day. These children will be students at LES whose parents are volunteering on the day. This is not a babysitting service; will also need help in securing supplies for these activities (paper, crayons, markers, and craft supplies).

Public Relations: work with partners to develop awareness for build day. Work to get music for build day. Plan ribbon cutting ceremony and send thank you notes after build day. Members will also work with project partners to provide an information table on build day.

Safety: secure first aid materials; provide certified first aid on build day; set up safety table; provide a safety discussion for volunteers before event begins.

Logistics: work with Mrs. Lee (school principal) to secure access to water, electricity, trash/recycle coordination, identify space to store tools and equipment; organize part sorting event on 2 prep days. Secure parking for build day.

If you can bring or donate the following tools for build day, please let us know as soon as possible.

List of tools we need:
· 10 Shovels (pointed end)
· 2 - 6’ step ladders
· 40 rock rakes
· 8 wheel barrows
· 10 regular rakes
· 4 digging bars
· 3-4 corded drills
· 4 - 100’ extension cords
· 10 hoes
· 10 pitch forks
· 4 sledge hammers
· 3 manual post hole diggers
· 4 garden hoses
· 5 large tarps
· 1 large tent
· 200 - 80 lb bags of cement

Send an email to laurelespta@gmail.com with “playground” in the subject line to be included in our informational email blasts.

**Youth Activities will only be available for students of Laurel Elementary School whose parents will be volunteering on Build Day. There will be a limit of 30 youth that we can accommodate. This will be on a first come, first served basis.

Continental breakfast, lunch and water will be provided on Build Day for our volunteers.