Tigers Need a New Playground

This past Wednesday we had our weekly staff meeting. I had training in another building, so I was only able to stay about ten minutes. At the meeting, the staff discussed fundraiser ideas for the new playground. I was looking over the list trying to think of how I could take one of the ideas and add a unique twist to it or come up with an entirely new idea for the list. I had an inspiration Thursday night.

Have you ever heard of "flocking"? Well, an organization raising money will place a flock of flamingos in someone's yard. To have the flock removed, the owner must call the organization and also pay a small fee. I thought, why can't we do that? How cool would flamingos look in our snowy yards too? Talk about drawing attention.

So when my principal called Friday morning to tell me we were closed, I told her I was heading up to work on the yearbook, we could work on the time capsule, and I had to share this idea. I refused to tell her the idea over the phone. It is difficult to see me jumping around in excitement over the phone.

When she FINALLY got out of her meeting with the playground rep, I explained the idea to her and the secretary. The secretary said her neighbor is a minister at a church whose youth group did the exact fundraiser. I begged (you can just see me begging, right?) her to call and get some information on how they got the project off the ground. I mentioned that maybe we could get tigers instead of flamingos since we are the tigers.

Doris later gave me the number of the person to contact about the project. In the mean time, another teacher came in, and Karen wanted me to share my idea with him. Basically, I was still bouncing off the walls, and she wanted him to know why. He also mentioned it would be neat to use tigers. BOOM!! It hit me.

My dad had made yard signs for my sister's high school dance team. Could he make some tiger yard signs for us? I called his cell, interrupted his work, and asked if he still had all the equipment necessary to do such a project. He told me that if I could get a pattern and find a lumberyard to donate the wood, he would do the cutting, sanding and attaching of the signs.

I don't think anyone could believe that I was getting this project moving so quickly. Why put off to tomorrow, what you can do today? I took a Subway lunch order and explained I would be making a side trip before picking up lunch.

I went to Big C Lumber and explained we were doing a fundraiser for the new Wayne Center playground. I asked if they would be able to donate scrap 1/4" USB or plywood and scrap boards for the stakes. The gentleman, Chad, typed up the order and asked if I wanted to take it with me now. It was that simple!! I told him I would rather wait until my dad could come with his truck as I was driving my little Honda Civic. He laughed and agreed.

I met my dad there later that afternoon. Big C didn't just give us free scraps. They gave us full sheets and boards!!! We wanted enough wood to make twenty signs. We were going to be able to make thirty-six!!!!!!!!!!

I helped my dad get the wood home and unloaded. I said I wanted to help when he was ready to do the cutting and sanding. He asked if I was able to come up the next day. Holy cow! In forty-eight hours, this was going from a little idea to a project on the move.

Check us out...



Dad cutting out a tiger head. He never broke a blade. I started to cut one out when he was getting tired, but realized I had better stick to the sanding.





I am attempting to sand the wood and not my hand. If you know me, you know this is something that takes major concentration. :-) My mom did a lot of sanding too, but she refused to be in any photos.






My dad had a few perfect cuts. I kept them because they gave me a few ideas. They would be great stencils for sidewalk decorating or something. We could also use them as picture frames and put a bunch of student pictures inside. The opportunities are endless.






A product of our long day of work. Next steps in assembly: put together a painting crew, paint the heads one afternoon, paint on the face lines another afternoon, return heads to my dad for stake attachment.




In the mean time, I plan to type up a letter to go home and also contact the News-Sun of our project in hopes they will run a small article asking for interested participants in the community. The tigers will roam the area playing in yards to raise money for their own playground. To host a tiger for a day or two, the cost will be $1.00 per tiger. Once they are finished roaming, we will auction off most of the signs. Will you host a few tigers in your yard?