Last Saturday Jill and I headed to KIPP Central City Academy to help build a Kaboom playground. Up until then, there had been only a patch of grass and some basketball hoops, which is hardly conducive to good recess time. The previous school had even less, just an asphalt slab and some broken down basketball hoops.

The school was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and was not reopened again until KIPP moved in this school year. This school holds special meaning for me as it was a big part of my first trip to New Orleans. When I came down in 2002 with a group from Iowa State we painted a mural just outside the library and spent several days in the building. The mural was painted over, as was everything else, when KIPP moved in, but I know that it's still there.


Jill and I helped construct the spiral slide, but some volunteers spent their day using blue tarps to haul a massive amount of mulch from where it was dumped outside, in to the playground. Jill and I got in on this action in the afternoon and I never knew mulch could be so heavy!

Several of the kids that Jill has worked with in her time here were on hand to help in the afternoon. Even the smallest got in on the action by helping to create this "ribbon" used for the ribbon cutting. Some of the older kids helped shovel and carry mulch. How exciting it must have been for those kids to see some 300 volunteers from all over New Orleans descend on their school and help build this beautiful playground. And what is better, this playground was designed specifically for these students based on pictures they drew and things they told the designers.

While it was a chilly and windy day, Jill and I both got plenty of sun and had a great time interacting with people, hearing stories, hanging with kids and sharing God's love in real and tangible ways.

And this was random. This guy walked by with his dog, who was walking on two feet like it was normal. I had to get a photo.