Retired Teachers Report for Playground Duty

Driving by the Garden Grove apartment complex teeming with children, Barbara Barker was struck by a depressing sight: a gated school playground.

For years, the field at Brookhurst School had been locked during the summer months and on weekends.

What a waste, Barker thought: empty swings, a gated playground--and so many kids.

Along with other volunteers, mostly retired teachers like herself, Barker, 67, earlier this year persuaded the city to open the playground and then organized a summer program on Tuesdays and Thursdays that helps pry children away from television sets and video games.

“Everybody agreed it was a good idea,” said Leon Raya, Garden Grove recreation supervisor. But the city lacked the money to fund such a program, let alone pay for the personnel to watch over the playground.

“But they brought the resources and the volunteers,” Raya said.

With assists from the city, the Malabar apartment complex and the Garden Grove Unified School District, the group of volunteers, who range in age from 66 to 81, organized the Brookhurst Kids Passport to Fun. The result is a program that volunteers say rejuvenates them while teaching more than 30 youths about other cultures through music, crafts and games.

At times, the volunteers struggle to keep up with the 6- to 12-year-olds, especially when they square off for an occasional kickball game.

“I get awfully tired,” Arla Donohew, 77, said while watching the kids play. “But it really is fun.”

“It’s kind of exciting when you are around children,” added Barbara Shirley, 75. “It makes you have to think young.”

The activities, from designing Faberge eggs to booting around a soccer ball, are part of a multicultural theme designed to appeal to the diverse neighborhood.

Parents are asked to pay $15 to defray the cost of art supplies for the summer.

While the effort has opened the playground, it has not attracted as many children from the nearby apartment complex as the volunteers had hoped. Barker is hopeful other parents will be drawn to the program once school starts, since the volunteers plan to continue their efforts on weekends. Still, the retired teachers feel a sense of success.

“A kid doesn’t care how old you are or the color of your hair,” Raya said. “They care about whether or not you care.”