Care Force Chronicle- Denver, CO

By Florence Capinding

Partner: T-Mobile
Volunteers: 150
Service Partner: Charles M. Schenck (CMS) Community School
When: August 9-12, 2010
TCF: Florence Capinding, Georgia Lawrence, Dylan Morrill and Phillip St. Clair
Care Force Reserves:
Noberto Riveria City Year Los Angeles Civic Engagement Project Manager
Tom Wingert City Year San Jose 07-08; Team Care Force 08-09
Danielle Chiarottino City Year Chicago Alumnus 05-06; 06-07

When the team arrived at the Denver airport, the first thing we were greeted with was the sight of the beautiful purple Rocky Mountains, which range over 3,000 miles. The city of Denver has evolved from being a wild, wild, west town established in the late 1860s to the progressive city we now know. It is full of diversity, culture, and many outdoor active residents. Every where you look you are guaranteed to see at least one person running, cycling, or kayaking.

The Charles M. Schenck (CMS) School is located in southwest Denver. It is a K-5 elementary school that serves approximately 600 students. 95% of the students are on free or reduced priced lunch. Focusing on the neighborhood the school is located in, 44.9% of the community members speak a language other than English at home. The school is committed to nurturing and encouraging Curiosity, Uniqueness, Responsibility, Perseverance, and Self-Reflection. They offer dual language classes and a variety of after school activities.

The school campus was in need of landscaping and painting of the rooms for parent meetings and afterschool activities. For this assignment, we did three days of preparation. On the service day, we led 150 T-mobile volunteers for a powerful day of service and completed a total of eight different projects. We made a skate-park themed T-Mobile Huddle Up Zone, created a parent information room, constructed 2 benches, tidied up 3 community gardens, landscaped numerous planters, and painted 15 wall murals, 10 canvas murals, several playground graphics, and a 287 ft. long retaining wall. It was a great day full of sunshine and the school’s students, faculty, and staff appreciated the outstanding work the T-mobile volunteers had done.



Finally, for those of you who do not know, Denver, CO is called the Mile High City because it is located approximately one mile above sea level. Neat, right? I learned that this week! I also learned that in higher altitudes it is much easier to get dehydrated. What is the importance of this you ask? Simply put: Safety comes first. Always have enough water bottles for your group and for yourself no matter what climate you’re at. Stay tuned for the next TCF trip!