Thursday, November 01, 2007

When community comes together....

... Things begin to happen.

A few years before I moved to this part of the country, a teacher at a Woodland, CA elementary school presented her students with a challenge.

She asked them to design a park.

Needless to say, having been created by a bunch of kids, there were some innovative designs and they let it be known in no uncertain terms exactly what they wanted it to be. They wanted a slide. They wanted a nautical theme. They wanted bleachers and a baseball field. They wanted it to be theirs, in their community, near their home.

And thus Ferns Park came into being.

It was built by a group of volunteers in 1995.

Last year, it was burned down by an arsonist.

The community was outraged, of course, and a lot of kids were disappointed because their park was gone.

This past week, the group of firefighters who responded to the call came together to rebuild. This was done by volunteers who donated work, supplies and the time to rebuild from the ground up.

The projected date of re-opening is this coming Saturday.

I think this is evidence that when a group of people decide to make something happen and are willing to put forth the effort, creativity is never far behind. These guys didn't sit around waiting for the city to take care of it. Although they had to get a permit, they didn't expect it to be rebuilt unless they took it upon themselves to do so.

It is a microcosm of what we can all do in the world.... if we choose to do so.

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This is the first month of the "Accentuate the Positive" blog carnival which was conceived by Snoskred a little over a month ago. Since I have the time, I asked permission to run with it.. which she willingly offered.

Here are a few more who want to share some good news:


Angela at Eclectic Recovery with "Anatomy of a Friendship"

Carole McKay at McKay Today with "A Show of Inspiration"

Catherine at Everyday Life As Lyric Poetry with "Sometimes Life Is Like A Lyric"

Frida at Frida's Notebook with "A Time For A Talk"

Jen at One Plus Two with "o-s-c-a-r"

Julie at Using My Words with "Outside"

Mahima at Meeting Mahima with "The Glasgow Manifesto"

Mel at Thai Village Life with "Thai Hospitals"

Peter at The Buddha Diaries with "Breaking News"

Snoskred at Life In the Country with "Making Progress"

Susan at Guilty With An Explanation with "Calling All Animal Lovers"

Therapy Doc with "Music Lessons"

Tiff at Three Ring Circus with "Accentuate the Positive"



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Contributors:
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Catherine

Jen

Julie

Snoskred

Tiff


Please feel free to contribute throughout the day. I will continue linking.

Thanks, everyone, for participating ~ whether it is sending your post, sending someone else's post or reading.

Next month, same time, same station. :)
~*

19 comments:

Amy Y said...

So nice to hear some happy news... Hope they love their new park! Thank you for sharing :)

Pam said...

These kinds of stories are the ones that help you keep the faith.

Christine said...

thanks for the links, chani. i'm off to do some reading. . .

Catherine said...

Happy First Accentuate the Positive Day! :)

Thanks for hosting, Chani.
catherine

niobe said...

So interesting. Because I recognize this as one of my character flaws -- I have a very hard time seeing the positive. For me, every silver lining has a cloud.

Anonymous said...

this is a splendid idea, Chani. I look forward to reading the links, and hopefully participating another month.

I love your choice for a story, too.

Julie Pippert said...

This is so fantastic...thanks!!

Julie
Using My Words

Liv said...

Good job at fighting the negative. It can be relevant, but also so miring.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

The community effort to create and recreate a park is a wonderful example of how people CAN work together if they choose.

I will check out the positive stories you've linked. It's a wonderful idea! We can always use reminders that people do great things which often go unremarked because we tend to focus on the negative.

Julie Pippert said...

Okay did the list...what a great collection! Nice to "meet" some neat new blogs, too.

Julie
Using My Words

Peter Clothier said...

Thanks for including The Buddha Diaries, Chani. I do try, often, to "accentuate the positive"--as the song says! Cheers, PaL

Anonymous said...

I adore stories of people banding together to accomplish something good. Thanks for the positive today.

therapydoc said...

VERY nice. Thanks for including me.

molly said...

This is an inspiring story. Proof that if we stop procrastinating and having to have a committee for everything, we can accomplish much more and spread goodwill into the bargain!
Whatever you did ,it is much easier to click onto your page than before!
I come by and read, but your subjects are so meaty I'd get to none of the other blogs I read in the limited time I'm on the computer if I started a comment!. Your post on people feeling isolated really interested me. I think I read that same article about how few confidantes Americans have. As communication becomes more and more sophisticated and the technology more advanced there are more lonely people around than ever before.......quite a conundrum.

Aliki2006 said...

Thanks for passing on the inspiration. I agree with you--community needs to be paid better attention to--in numbers we can do so much!

Anonymous said...

Oh! Chani! I'm so glad I popped by to read such an uplifting story. I've been feeling a little down lately and you reminded me of the beauty of it all. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry I didn't participate this month. I had planned on it, but then, well, you've read what happened...

But, it is nice to see some positive things right now!

Janet said...

Uplifting story.

Thanks for bringing attention to the positive. I hope to participate next month.

painted maypole said...

this is such a great idea... i meant to participate and forgot about it in the hubub of my life this week. I'll try next month! :)