Hello again! Hope this finds you all well. Things are moving along with our school project. So much so that I may be posting more frequently sometimes. I am already a couple months behind and sometimes I am tempted to just talk about random things that happen while they are fresh in my mind, but for now, at least until school opens, I thought it might make more sense to keep things in order.
Today I want to touch on how the work is getting done. Sure, we have organized work days, right now about every other Saturday, but there is a lot of work that goes on by individuals that fills in the smaller spaces. Everyone seems to be finding things they enjoy and things they are good at, and they just go ahead and get it done.
One thing that is a great help is that someone has kind of taken on the task of cleaning. I have found them numerous times sweeping areas that had been recently used. Outside, there is volunteer work being done on the drainage issues, and this summer, there are a couple people who I am sure will be mowing yard. The only outside task I don’t have any info about is planting and caring for flowers and such. Any volunteers?
Right now, much of the “little” work is being done by people from our church, but once school actually starts, I envision some other parents getting involved.
We have been very blessed to have one person whose work is slow in the winter, so they have been very busy the last few months, taking on jobs both big and small, and spending many hours at the school. Luckily, they are very handy in just about everything we need done. I have dropped by several times to help him, since I have a lot of free time right now as well. We spent one day putting the new lighting in the hall, office, and restrooms. I also caught him putting in some of the smaller windows.
It has also been interesting to see how people have been keeping their eyes open for opportunities to obtain things for the school. At one point, we needed a controller for the roof furnace unit. We found one in Ohio that was free, so a couple guys went out to get it and came back with that and a complete basketball goal set, including a vintage scoreboard.
We also have made some inquiries about a large playground set that was spotted in Michigan.
We have discovered that people are generous and want to help, if you just ask. That’s the hard part, getting up the nerve to ask. We are blessed to have some on the committee who have no problems asking for help, and others of us have learned it by practice! The new cabinets for all the classrooms have been donated, as well as some carpet for the basement chapel, and enough bookshelf units for the library and all the classrooms. When you tell people what we are using their items for, a lot of people just want to donate them to us.
Of course, we are getting rid of all our books for free, and are left with storage shelves that will be handy. And I can’t forget a group that donated 85 used folding chairs for us. That’s one thing we will be needing fairly soon, is more chairs and tables. If anyone knows of large groups of metal folding chairs that we could get, please contact us.
We also became aware of some of the corporate product donations that may be available. Some large companies will donate products or money to projects like this. Things like paint, art supplies, locksets, and other building materials are on our list to to see what we can do.
If you think of something you have that we might be able to use and want to donate it, or perhaps your company would like to help with products or money, don’t hesitate to contact us. You can go on our website, www.uccs.school, there is a Donate button there, or you can contact us for more information.
