"Be the Difference" Day
Spring 2012
All the flower gardens in front of the school and around the administration building were weeded, trimmed, cleaned, and mulch was spread everywhere. We could have used more mulch, but by the time we realized there was more available everything had been cleaned up. More flowers were planted in front of the BES sign and the area was weeded to look nice.
Near the end of the day, safety paint in yellow was purchased to redo the front curb. Unknown to me, the youngest of all the group were put there for that task. They were given brushes instead of a roller and that paint is very sticky and only comes out with paint thinner and lots of scrubbing. Much of my time was spent getting it out of the hair of two people and off the bodies of five. I stopped them from finishing as it is almost impossible to be put on neatly without a roller. (I tried it and was amazed that they got it as neat as they did with the brushes they were using!)
The two Daves and a few volunteers worked on construction of the greenhouse, but the directions were faulty and after following them to a tee, realized that and had to take it all down and start over. Perhaps it was the problem of transcribing from Chinese to English. Anyway it is done and only needs the windows put in.
A group of LDS volunteers attacked some pretty disgusting tables and by the time they were done, they all looked new and eagerly await the seventh and eighth graders.
The entire school was "dusted" for spiderwebs and the school playground was swept clean in preperation for the open house we had on May, 8 2012
The biggie though is that the entire quad was painted! The last time that was done was when Thelma Edmundson was the Superintendent. The painters were told not to paint the lockers as they will probably be removed later, and to paint with flat green paint which will be the primer. District personnel will paint the semigloss over it later.
Doug Kaelin purchased the hot dogs for the lunch, Buckshot Grill furnished the beans, water and cookies were provided by the ladies at the LDS Church. I purchased the potato salad, condiments and plates, forks, spoons, etc. Donna Long and Janet Smith offered and will be donating instead to the next wave.
We hope to contribute to the painting of the multipurpose room, two temporary buildings by the garden and backs of the first two wings to complete painting of the school. The more help the better! Any amount will be appreciated!
I'm quite sure much more was done that I didn't see, but I must admit I was a bit overwhelmed with excitement over the entire day. To those who came to help and for those who donated in money or materials, I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! It truly shows that many hands make an enormous difference!
Spring 2012
by Groverlee Dahl
I'm sure you have all seen the transformation at Biggs Elementary from the work of the 70+ people (LDS Church members, staff, retirees, community members and family members) who came and donated the labor for our Be the Difference Work Day on Saturday, April 28th. If you haven't seen what was done, it's worth a look. The district donated the paint, ladders, and paint equipment, tarps, etc. Dave Browning and Dave North were hired for the day to oversee and be available with the key, etc.
In the garden, volunteers spread the huge pile of dirt and removed the old gopher wire in it and replanted many of the strawberries that had been dumped. They leveled the ground, and spread mulch over the entire area and between the boxes. They positioned and reworked the boxes that had to be removed earlier from the greenhouse area. Garden art and signs from the kids were hung to finish the look. Christianne Langford and her partners in this endeavor, Jona Pressman and Jenny Estep, helped orchestrate the transformation in the garden. Thanks goes to someone who made the cute gate... Christianne told me it was a student who made it at BHS, but in all the hubbub I forgot who it was. Sorry! It looked great, but it was decided to wait for the fire marshall to come and OK what is done before doing any other projects. The antique fireplug will have to come out of the garden for even if there is a huge sign that says "Ornamental ONLY! he feels the firemen will try to attach the hose to it anyway. Yea, I know.
The back of the kindergarten wall was pretty yucky looking and the volunteers power washed and painted a garden on it. Some of the younger kids couldn't bear not to help and we ended up with maybe a few too many bugs and rainbows...but it seems that for kindergarteners you can never have too many of either one of those. It will be fun for the kids to find all of them when they get to school. A favorite was the bookworm that Sarah Scott painted for them. Hopefully this wall will be painted to match the rest of the school, so we didn't really worry if the finished project was perfect or not! It still looks better than the wall that was there! The playground was powerwashed in the kindergarten and the ton of sand that had "escaped" the sandbox was put back where it belonged!
The speech door, (the old one had to be replaced) was painted by another retiree from BES, Donna Long. She and I have painted many of the other doors and when "Above the fruited plain" was taken down, the new door needed to be painted to complete the "America the Beautiful" song. Other wonderful murals and doors as well as the map of the U.S. were painted in years passed by Barbara O'Brien and her afterschool class.
The back of the kindergarten wall was pretty yucky looking and the volunteers power washed and painted a garden on it. Some of the younger kids couldn't bear not to help and we ended up with maybe a few too many bugs and rainbows...but it seems that for kindergarteners you can never have too many of either one of those. It will be fun for the kids to find all of them when they get to school. A favorite was the bookworm that Sarah Scott painted for them. Hopefully this wall will be painted to match the rest of the school, so we didn't really worry if the finished project was perfect or not! It still looks better than the wall that was there! The playground was powerwashed in the kindergarten and the ton of sand that had "escaped" the sandbox was put back where it belonged!
The speech door, (the old one had to be replaced) was painted by another retiree from BES, Donna Long. She and I have painted many of the other doors and when "Above the fruited plain" was taken down, the new door needed to be painted to complete the "America the Beautiful" song. Other wonderful murals and doors as well as the map of the U.S. were painted in years passed by Barbara O'Brien and her afterschool class.
All the flower gardens in front of the school and around the administration building were weeded, trimmed, cleaned, and mulch was spread everywhere. We could have used more mulch, but by the time we realized there was more available everything had been cleaned up. More flowers were planted in front of the BES sign and the area was weeded to look nice.Near the end of the day, safety paint in yellow was purchased to redo the front curb. Unknown to me, the youngest of all the group were put there for that task. They were given brushes instead of a roller and that paint is very sticky and only comes out with paint thinner and lots of scrubbing. Much of my time was spent getting it out of the hair of two people and off the bodies of five. I stopped them from finishing as it is almost impossible to be put on neatly without a roller. (I tried it and was amazed that they got it as neat as they did with the brushes they were using!)
The two Daves and a few volunteers worked on construction of the greenhouse, but the directions were faulty and after following them to a tee, realized that and had to take it all down and start over. Perhaps it was the problem of transcribing from Chinese to English. Anyway it is done and only needs the windows put in.
A group of LDS volunteers attacked some pretty disgusting tables and by the time they were done, they all looked new and eagerly await the seventh and eighth graders.The entire school was "dusted" for spiderwebs and the school playground was swept clean in preperation for the open house we had on May, 8 2012
The biggie though is that the entire quad was painted! The last time that was done was when Thelma Edmundson was the Superintendent. The painters were told not to paint the lockers as they will probably be removed later, and to paint with flat green paint which will be the primer. District personnel will paint the semigloss over it later.
I collected all the money in the can at the Biggs Elementary site (a fifty dollar check from Maxine Hamblin, fifty dollars in cash from Heidi Siegall and two dollars from anonymous.) Perhaps more people will donate later when they see the change that can come from it. How great it would be to get the rest of the school painted.
Doug Kaelin purchased the hot dogs for the lunch, Buckshot Grill furnished the beans, water and cookies were provided by the ladies at the LDS Church. I purchased the potato salad, condiments and plates, forks, spoons, etc. Donna Long and Janet Smith offered and will be donating instead to the next wave.
We hope to contribute to the painting of the multipurpose room, two temporary buildings by the garden and backs of the first two wings to complete painting of the school. The more help the better! Any amount will be appreciated!
I'm quite sure much more was done that I didn't see, but I must admit I was a bit overwhelmed with excitement over the entire day. To those who came to help and for those who donated in money or materials, I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! It truly shows that many hands make an enormous difference!
In appreciation,
Groverlee Dahl
Groverlee Dahl
The "Be the Difference" Group
and all the kids at Biggs Elementary!