Care Force Chronicle- Miami, FL

T-Mobile Huddle Up Zone

By Dan Nemiroff

Partner: T-Mobile

Volunteers: 150

Service Partner: Opa Locka’s Carrie P. Meek/Westview Elementary School
When: November 15- 18, 2010

TCF: Dan Nemiroff, Steadman Graves; Project Manager Susan Bensen

Reserves: City Year Miami Heroes Team; City Year Miami Senior Corps Member Anthony Teague

On Sunday, November 14th, Steadman and I arrived in Miami ready for another exciting T-Mobile Huddle-Up event week. I was personally really enthused about this event, because it was going to be held at Opa Locka’s Carrie P. Meek/Westview Elementary School. I served with City Year Miami last year, so it was really cool to be back in beautiful Miami to do some work.

  

Our preparation week got off to a great start on Monday morning. We took a tour of the school, sorted through the Home Depot order and got right to work cutting wood and building panel murals. Along with Stead and I, the CY Miami Heroes Team worked with us on the prep work throughout the week. For me, it was great to work with the Heroes team. Having served on the Heroes team last year, it was cool to talk about the program with this year’s team. It’s great to know that there’s such a dedicated team in Miami this year. Shout out to them!



Though long and hot, the remainder of the prep week went pretty smoothly. It was full of Home Depot and Target runs, wood cutting, priming walls, sketching murals, tool sorting, and Physical Training practicing.

We arrived to the school early on Wednesday, feeling juiced for the T-Mobile folks to come out and serve. They arrived around 9 AM, and as always, brought some serious energy and enthusiasm to the service site. After some PT, we split into our teams and started working. The dedicated T-Mobile volunteers accomplished some amazing projects.



By 3 PM, they had completed the following projects:



Butterfly Garden

• An Outdoor Garden with planter beds and mural benches

• 10 colorful murals to go around the garden area

• Landscaping and mulch in the playground area

• A “T-Shaped” butterfly garden

• Painted the lines and keys of the basketball courts

• Painted a mural on the outdoor tool shed

• Painted 4 large outdoor murals

• Painted 10 panel murals to go throughout the school

• Completely transformed one of the school’s classroom into the T-Mobile Huddle-Up Room by painting its walls, hanging panel murals, building cubbies and bookshelves, assembling new furniture, and sorting through new school supplies donated by the T-Mobile employees!

All in all it was one of the more transformative projects that I have been a part of.
 

Dr. Seuss Courtyard Mural

During the closing ceremony, everyone gathered around the school’s courtyard area to reflect on what had we had accomplished in just one busy day. We got the chance to hear from Ms. Crews, the amazing principal at Westview Elementary. She expressed her sincere appreciation for all of the hard work and dedication of the T-Mobile folks. This project was unique because a school-based team of City Year corps members serve at Westview Elementary School every day, tutoring, mentoring, and leading an afterschool program. Being able to contribute to their team’s service and broaden City Year’s impact on that school was an incredibly rewarding experience – one that I’d love to have again at another City Year partner school.

Huge appreciations to the CY Miami Heroes Team, the Carrie P. Meek/Westview Elementary School team, Care Force Project Managers Susan Bensen and Hugh Harlow; City Year Miami Project Managers Giddy Ape, Aaron Gougis and Patty Brewster; and City Year Miami Senior Corps Member Anthony Teague!