Community Spirit Behind School Project

There won’t be an actual barn-raising, but that’s the type of community spirit behind the playground beautification and renovation planned today and Sunday at Sunland Elementary School.

Nearly 1,500 people, including many who are not parents or otherwise associated with the school, have promised “their time and their hearts,” said project leader Richard Chaffino, whose daughter, Amy, is a second-grader at the school. The improvements will include a running track, playing field, garden, five murals, a series of physical fitness stations and a small wooden town for the special education preschool.

Sunland Elementary is one of 18 sites in North America chosen this year to receive leadership assistance from the Oakland-based International Service Day Foundation. The nonprofit agency works with schools and neighborhoods using community resources.

Chaffino said $16,000 has been raised through carwashes, a bowl-a-thon, recycling and other activities, and area businesses have donated an equivalent amount in supplies and labor.

Specific project suggestions, some hand-drawn, came from the students themselves.

“One youngster proposed a waterfall,” Chaffino said. “That wasn’t possible, but one of our murals will be a painting of a waterfall.

“And we can’t build separate football and soccer fields, but we can give them a grass field.”

Entertainment, food and baby-sitting services will be provided from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. todayand Sunday.

Like an actual barn-raising, the weekend will end with a celebration potluck at 4 p.m. Sunday.

“We send our kids to school for 13 years--longer than many adults spend at a single job--and we expect them to do well,” Chaffino said. “They can’t do it alone.

“They need to know their community is behind them.”

Sunland Elementary is at 8350 Hillrose Ave. For more details about the weekend’s activities, call the school’s Parent Center at (818) 951-2871.