Look! A Garden!

Our first big group workday was a great success! As you can see abov there wasn't too much out there before we started working. When everyone arrived on thatbeautiful morning, there were only a few stakes in the ground.

The wheels soon began turning though! 24 post holes were dug for our 4"x4" fence posts to go in. At the same time volunteers started hauling all of the raised beds into place, and leveling them out (or close enough :) ). Once we got all 14 beds in place and level we started hauling dirt. The dirt pile/mountain soon started dwindling as eager voulnteers began carting their precious cargo up the hill and too the beds. Ben Sharda from KC Community Gardens gave us some great tips for a handy dirt dumping method with the wheelbarrows, which was pretty slick. Even with the mid 80s weather, the team soldiered on and got all the beds filled.

Check it out! it's got plants!!

Meanwhile the fence crew was chugging along getting all the posts plumb and in their holes, and compacting the soil at the base. Then we nailed two layers of the 4'x16' cattle panels to the posts. Take that deer! We also had to add some chicken wire to the bottom to keep those killer rabbits out too!

In order to keep the weeds down we placed cut to fit rolls of carpet face down in between the raised beds. This will also keep it from getting too muddy. Ben from KCCG showed back up around this time with the prized posessions - seeds and plants! We got some of the residents involved in the planting and watering, and they all looked like they were having quite the time!

The fence

We can't wait to come back next weekend to finish up a few things and hopefully see how our plants are coming along!

Dirt, Dirt and more Dirt!

Our workday this past weekend was a great success! Holes were dug, fences were erected, beds were placed and wheelbarrows were loaded/dumped and repeated! More details and pictures to come!

All Good in the Garden!

Team BMCD/Spaces is off to a great start for April. Despite the late March/early April snow (and walking uphill both ways) the team managed to get together to build 14 - 4'x12' raised beds that will go into the garden we're helping build at the Community of the Good Shepherd. We can't wait to get them in there and get to planting! Hard to imagine things growing when it's still snowing this late. But alas, the sun will come out tomorrow. Anticipation is building for an epic workday that will hopefull place these beds and get an anti-deer fence erected to guard the oh so delicious vegetables that we hope to see growing soon.

March - Feel A Need for TLC

The Burns McDonnell and Spaces, Inc. team are working with TLC Therapeutic Learning Center to help them fill a need for March. TLC is asking for our community service project help in refurbishing their “Bus Waiting Room”. This is a room where parents and teachers meet to drop off and pick up their children. It is a lounge as well as a play room and storage area for car seats. We are turning this room into a ZOO theme with lots of fun and interesting characters to look at and study on the walls. We plan to turn this room into warm, inviting and interesting setting so people will enjoy sitting in this lounge for parents and play room for the children. We will make this the most comfortable and inviting room in the school.

We also plan to continue the ZOO theme throughout the hallway outside the classroom doors. We are planning on making each classroom a special themed ZOO animal room. We plan to paint a different ZOO animal mural over and around each doorway for the students to identify each room as the "Zebra Room", "Penguin Room", "Monkey Room", "Turtle Room", or "Lion Cub Room". This is a need that TLC is asking us to fulfill, so the kids will have more fun and welcoming for all.

We also discovered a need as we were in discussions with TLC and developing our fill a need theme. TLC is in need of purchasing therapeutic exercise equipment for their kids. There is need to raise money so that they can purchase this equipment so we are organizing and implementing a fundraiser.

The fundraiser will be a Family Poker Tournament on March 3rd from 5:00PM to 9:00PM. It will be held at Johnny’s Tavern (1310 Grand Blvd. KCMO) in the Power and Light. We welcome everyone to register and pay $40.00 dollars for the entry fee to see if you can take up the cash prize for first, second or third place. We are also selling raffle tickets for this event, $5.00 for one ticket or $20.00 for 5 tickets. We will have some very high quality products, services and gifts that we will raffle off all evening. We encourage everyone to please purchase the raffle tickets and sign up for the Poker tournament.

For registration for this event please contact Stephanie Volk at TLC, svolk@childrenstlc.org. Or phone Stephanie at 816-756-0780 ext. 2138.
We will raffle off a Toshiba 32” flat screen TV value of $520.00, Falcon Ridge Golf Outing value of $316.00, JCCC Performing Arts Series for the Joffrey Ballet Performance value of $130.00, also we have a Spa Package, Restaurant Gift Certificates, Sporting Event Tickets, and much more!
Please sign up today to help us raise the necessary funds to help TLC purchase this equipment and help us fill this need for TLC!

Carnival Games for Down Syndrome Guild of KC

The Down Syndrome Guild of Kansas City (DSG) holds several annual events in which family, friends, and volunteers of the organization come together for an afternoon of fun and games. For each event, DSG rents several carnival games from a local supplier. Each game costs about one hundred dollars to rent each time. Over a couple years, it adds up! We found to be the perfect opportunity for Burns & Mac and Spaces to apply our skills to help DSG in a creative way. DSG already had the resources put aside for this project so our team did not have to spend a dime. Additionally, we knew that February's theme of "Change Without $Change$” was not so much about things as much as people. We decided to work with the DSG STARS (Special Teens Achieving Real Success) in deciding what games to build, and how to build them. Hanging out with the DSG STARS, getting paint everywhere, and dancing to some Jonas Brothers, was truly a treat (and entertaining) for all involved.

Over January and February, we met with STARS three times. Our first meeting was an ice breaker in which we went through introductions (you work at McDonald’s??!!) and held a friendly competition of building the tallest possible tower out of toothpicks and marshmallows. DSG is always looking for ways to expose STARS teens to different careers and so this small contest was a great way to show them some things that engineers do. We then brainstormed as a group to decide which of their favorite carnival games we were to build. We decided on Bucket Toss, Washers, Prize Wheel, and Sucker Tree. At our second meeting, we utilized donated painting to let the teens apply some artistic flair to each masterpiece. We also had time to play board games when the work was complete. During our third and final event, we tested out the games by playing them and giving out prizes. Everyone was a winner! Perhaps the most memorable part of the meeting was dancing the night away with STARS to the Hannah Montana soundtrack.

Working with STARS and DSG was fun, educational, and inspirational for us as volunteers. Prior to these events, few of us understood what Down syndrome really was, and how it affects people’s behavior. After spending some quality time with STARS, it is easy to see that each individual with Down syndrome has his or her own strong personality, and will say the darnedest things as any teenager will. A DSG volunteer coordinator pointed out that she had never seen some of the STARS teens as animated as when they were interacting with us. It’s great to know that we made a last impression on some of the teens we worked with. And although we left DSG with some (hopefully) long lasting carnival games, we took away experiences that are even more valuable. DSG has already expressed interest in working with our group in the future. We hope to find some volunteers on the BMcD/Spaces team that would like to continue with future volunteer activities with DSG.

ReStart Group Project

Project Change teams got an early chance to help out and get involved in the community this past Saturday at ReStart in downtown KC. Spaces/Burns & Mac provided almost a dozen volunteers to help put together backpacks full of items for teens and baskets for families for those in need around KC. These teens don't have a lot to call their own but this backpack will be all theirs! The baskets were also filled with necessities for the families that we tend to take for granted. Additionally, notes of encouragement, toiletries and other goodies were included. We also had the opportunity to serve a holiday meal to the families and help clean up at ReStart. There were so many volunteeers there that all of the tasks were done so fast they had to find more things for us to do!