We had a great weekend. Saturday was a full day, especially for Paul (who had to work at s-bucks after a long day of grilling...). There are a few community gardens in the area. One is called, MOBY (My Own Back Yard), they decided to reclaim a lot across from their garden, that I think was known for drugs, trash dumping, etc... & turn it into a playground. They also decided to dedicate it to a local neighborhood police officer who was killed in the line of duty some years ago. They have been planning & fundraising for this for quite a while. Paul & I went to a fundraiser a few weeks ago at a local restaurant, where we ran into Michelle, who works with the Business Improvement Association in the area (we met her during a community clean-up that some Harding students helped us with during spring break). She asked us if our church could grill hot dogs for the volunteers building the playground. So...we called around to find a grill to borrow & went to the playground build which was this past Saturday. There were over 175 volunteers from the community!! Paul is now a Master hot dog griller (he can even do veggie dogs), after grilling like 200 hot dogs. It was so cool to be a part of. They had a dedication that afternoon & tons of police officers were there to honor, Sgt Larry Young. They also encouraged the community to take ownership in the playground area to keep it clean.
Meanwhile, our good friends, Aaron & Amy were helping with a community clean-up day sponsored by the local community policing centre. They led a group of people through the neighborhood to pick up trash & keep it clean. Afterwards, they joined us at the playground, where Amy helped with landscaping and was on the local news. She is famous now. We all had a great time meeting new people & being a part of this wonderful opportunity to improve our community.
You can go to the following link to see the news story... http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html?releasePID=TgvYvKOUavco97elLEc5LVb5cQqXLVPH
Great pics! What a fun playground, especially the bike with the flowers growing out of the basket...makes me think of something Shane Claiborne would do. Wish we lived closer b/c Asher would want to hang out there all the time.
Love the pictures and way God is using you! Keep up the good work and the blogging! :<)
I love your blog site. Also loved the pictures and the updated info. We are praying for you!