NEW ORLEANS, LA

Getting More By Giving Back

Nothing in Clinton Smith’s job description said anything about swinging hammers, pouring concrete or hauling mulch. Then again, there’s nothing that can prepare a grade-school principal for life in the battered inner city of post-Katrina New Orleans.

But on Black Friday, when millions of Americans were at the malls, Principal Smith was working side-by-side with Second Lieutenant Ken Barber and about 200 other new friends. In less than a day ,  they turned a bleak strip of dirt into a custom-designed new playground for the students of Sylvanie F. Williams Elementary School.  

"These people here are changing lives," Principal Smith said. "These kids have been through so much. Some of them were out of school for two years. Every day they came out here and came up with their own games, mostly hitting, tackling, pushing and shoving. Now their play time will be a bit more civilized.”

Second Lt. Barber, along with more than a dozen other Marines, was in New Orleans to participate in the 34th Annual State Farm Bayou Football Classic, between Grambling State University and Southern University. The game was on Saturday, so State Farm sponsored the playground build as a community service project for Friday.

"This is the part of the weekend that lets me feel like I’m making a difference,” said 2nd Lt. Barber, a Baton Rouge native. He compared the project to work he did while deployed in Africa on a humanitarian mission.  

"When you see people that are happy [in Africa] with just the little bit they have, it makes you appreciate what we have at home every day," he said, adding that the experience gave him greater appreciation of volunteer work. "Being able to give back really makes all the difference."

Volunteers for the project came from nearly a dozen states around the country, not to mention the halls of the school. The project was organized on behalf of State Farm by KaBoom!, a non-profit group working to build 100 playgrounds at impoverished schools across the Gulf Coast region.

When they arrived Friday morning, workers faced a large parking lot covered in massive boxes, a half-dozen stacks of timber, seven tons of concrete and a mountain of mulch, brought in on two tractor trailers.  

Throughout the day it was often hard to tell if the gathering was a construction project or a festival. Like any good PE class, the day started with some warm-up exercises. Only in this case it was 100 plus people doing the "Cupid Shuffle” in the cold morning air.

With music playing loudly, students atop the mulch pile often took time to demonstrate their dance moves. And every time the DJ played Soulja Boy’s "Crank That,” all work just about came to a halt as dozens of people broke into the dance made famous on YouTube.

Looking across the mass of activity, Caleb Marshall, project manager for KaBoom!, seemed very satisfied at the turnout and enthusiasm. He’d spent the past six months planning the project. Having Marines on hand for the work was a bonus, he said.

"People draw a lot of inspiration working with the Marines,” he said, adding that discipline of the Marines was apparent in their work ethic on the project. "I had to tell them to take a lunch break; otherwise they would have kept on working.”   

For some of the Marines, it didn’t take much to find motivation in the day’s work.   

"This is awesome. I went to a grade school that didn’t have a playground until I was in sixth grade,” said 2nd Lt. Karissa Torres, from St. Louis. "I know what this will mean to these kids.”   

Throughout much of the day she was shadowed by a 10-year-old boy, which she seemed to enjoy. "This is what it’s really all about. Maybe he’ll remember, ‘Hey I met a Marine when I was kid’ and take away positive memories of the day.”   

By day’s end the volunteers had created a new set of playground equipment based on suggestions from the students. Features included dual slides, cargo netting, a zip line and a twisting set of monkey bars. Benches and planters replaced an old fence.

"You have no idea how important this is for these kids,” said second grade teacher Ashley Aleman. "Before this they had a strip of grass surrounded by a high fence. It looked more like a cage than a playground.”   

Captain Marc Cole encouraged his fellow Marines to enjoy the experience. "This is a lot more rewarding than shopping or sitting at home watching a football game,” he said.  

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