Community Service

One of the things I love about ODTUG is the Community Service Day but I do wish the Americans would understand that Community Service in the UK means something you do instead of prison service.

This year we tried to inject some colour into a pretty run down school. We were sent to the Ronald Brown Middle School in Washington DC. Here you can see the assistant school principal who was so happy to see volunteers. They are arranged through Greater DC Cares and the girl with the sunglasses is Kelly who was their co-coordinator whose job was to turn us into some kind of useful volunteers.

Our job was to paint and inject some colour into the school. there was also one working party who did the library and sorted out boxes and boxes of old books so the students could actually read them.

Another group did the gardening but it was too hot for me, I hadn't bought a hat, so the group painting outside was also a no no, leaving me only one choice, the group painting boards that would finally be put up on the fence outside the school. The sports teams are known as Ron Brown's Rockets and I painted the rockets. Debra will tell you she did but it is a lie, let her have the praise though I am happy to be in the background.

When we were finished I went out to supervise those painting the ground and then we put the boards up. It was a great day and you can see how it all went here.