- Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:20 pm #376 I have created great relationship with myself and the people around me. I reconnected with my daughter Mahbuba who I have not seen in ten years. Now we talk almost daily and we Skype. I come to realize what self love is and it has been great to find out so many amazing things about myself. I have real friends and I enjoy my life as the result of things I creat for myself and for other people around me.

[ruby]

- Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:50 pm #377 Tori Smith, Physical Therapist

Oaklawn Playground Project

As a WorldLegacy leadership team we chose to create our project in Wichita, KS in the
community of Oaklawn. This project was and is very near and dear to
my heart because I serve this section of the community in my job and
am privileged to work with the amazing members of this community. In
April, Wichita had a night of severe storms and tornadoes that tore
through this section of town, causing devastation throughout the
homes. I was able to see how beneficial a playground would be for the
children of this community bringing a sense of hope and connection
after such a major life-shifting event. Living in Wichita, I was able
to involve many of the community volunteers and donors in the project
and create a sense of excitement within them! The empty lot that was
chosen was often referred to by the kids in the neighborhood as the
house and lot that was haunted. During the project, it was so cool to
see the kids who live in the community coming to help and see what was
happening in their neighborhood. By the ribbon cutting ceremony on
Sunday night, I knew most of them by name! The day after the project
a car pulled up next to me at the gas station and all of the sudden,
there were three smiling faces at the window waving like crazy! They
told me they had played that morning and just wanted to say thank
you! The day after that, I was driving past the playground to a home
visit and was stopped by a kid in the street running out to my car to
give me a hug! He was so excited because he had gotten to play outside
that morning! The playground in Oaklawn has created a safe space for
kids to run and play and be free to be kids. It is a place that will
keep giving for many years to come-a haunted house now a beautiful,
free open playground!
www.worldlegacy.com
www.worldlegacyextremegivers.com

[ruby]

- Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:52 pm #378 Adam Price

WorldLegacy NC137 Oaklawn Playground Project
The Oaklawn playground project took place in Wichita, Kansas where
the team created a playground completely from scratch in less than 72
hours. Oaklawn was hit by a tornado back in April and completely
devastated a large portion of the neighborhood. The children of the
neighborhood have been subjected to stress as a result of not only
the clean up effort but by the fact that the neighborhood already had
one of the highest crime rates in Wichita. Our team came in to create
a sense of unity and hope by creating a space where kids can run
around and be free, creative, loud, funny, and however else they want
to be in a space environment.

We had lots of kids come out to help and be apart of the construction
of the playground as well as a number of people from the surrounding
Oaklawn community. At the complete of our 2nd day on site I asked one
of the children what the best part of his day was and he said hanging
out with our team. He saw great people being up to big things and
creating a playground just for him. I spoke with one of the dump
truck drivers as he was delivering sand and found out that he had
grown up not far away in the neighborhood. He was really touched by
our team and was inspired that people from all over the world had
come together to create a place for these children to play. We had 7
dump truck loads of sand for the playground (over 100 tons) of sand
donated and every time this driver drove through the neighborhood he
was so excited that he blew his truck horn and was waiving at all the
neighbors and the volunteers.

The children have been visiting the playground everyday and the
neighbors have been extremely grateful for the work that our team
did.

Pat one of the residents told me that it has been her vision and
dream for her neighborhood to have playground as I was driving my car
through to look at the playground a few days after we had completed
the project. She stopped me in the middle of the road and gave me a
big heart felt hug while holding back tears and said thank you. This
project was amazing and It really hit me the impact our team had when
she said thank you and told me how much it meant to her.
http://www.worldlegacy.com
http://www.worldlegacyextremegivers.com