HMH (Orlando, FL) 2019

TCF member Nana Boateng led a group of volunteers in assembling the remaining bookshelves. These bookshelves were delivered to the eight schools where City Year Orlando serves to bring a little life into the City Year rooms.

Front volunteers paint mural tiles to be affixed to the bookshelves that match the books that were donated by HMH. Volunteers in the back paint the school logo on the roof of each bookshelf.

The last night of prep Hugh took us all to dinner at an Irish restaurant across the street from the hotel in Disney Springs which had dancing, live music, and great food. After dinner, Hugh let the team walk around Disney Springs; this allowed us to get to know one another better. While walking around, we went inside The Lego Store, and saw lots of cool life-sized figures including Darth Vader. After that, we went to a gift shop so that Alice could get a present for her son. It was a very fun night, and I was glad to have the chance to get to know my team better.

With event day finally upon us, the team spent the morning and afternoon getting ready for the evening event. HMH was having a conference at the Hilton in Orlando Buena Vista Palace, and volunteers could stop at four main projects on their way to dinner. Delaney and Cautchy’s volunteers were tasked with painting mural tiles that were going onto the bookshelves using Velcro and painting the school logos on the roofs of the bookshelves. Volunteers at Nana’s station constructed the remaining bookshelves and I worked with Alice to lead volunteers who put stickers on the books that HMH was donating. Molly’s group made origami bookmarks that went with the donated books. Once my volunteers were done, I moved over to construction and led volunteers in building the final library. I was very nervous, but I relied on my experience the previous day and together the volunteers were able to finish. In just two hours, volunteers were able to finish all the tasks we had laid out and the team felt very accomplished in completing our first event.

The next morning, we got up bright and early to deliver the libraries, books and bookmarks to each school, and it was very rewarding to see how excited the schools were to receive them. During the drive, Hugh had me call a few places to ask and see if they accept extra paint. When I called, I said, “Hey, my name is Ben, and I have extra paint that I cannot use. Can I drop it off with you?” The associate said, “No.” Hugh used this as a teaching moment and told me to explain a little bit about City Year and what our project was. I took his advice and the next place I called took our paint. I was very proud of everything I learned on this event and am thrilled that I had great people to teach me the ropes. This event helped lay the foundation for the work I would be doing for the rest of the year.