I went painting at the iHope school at 101 W 116th St a physical disabilities school with 55 students. They were repainting the school over the weekend and we were responsible for a coupe of rooms, the entrance hallway, and a couple class rooms and doors of the offices.
By no means did I go out last night. I took a subway to Dave Zhangs, where we booled, got Taco Bell [I went vegetarian] then went home at around 11pm. Joey and I ended up hanging out for a bit and passing out to 9am. I hopped out of bed, made it by 10 and worked there until 5pm, giving a good 7 hours.
Met up with Val and Sebastian who were already hard at work in one of the classrooms. We gave two coats of lavender to opposite walls and another 2 coats of white to the remaining walls.
After cleaning up, breaking down, and scrapping off the drips that we tracked everywhere there wasn’t paper, we also painted another layer on some of the office doors.
The school was very interesting. Because of the amount of unique needs for the student population, they had ogles of equipment; chairs, restraints, assistance, tanks, emergency chairs, desk configurations.
They also have lots of kids with difficulty of sight, and so many of the rooms had various physical markers that the students could use to guide/orient themselves in the school.
They had a 3D printer, that they could use to make small parts for different custom uses, but also teach the kids on how to use the equipment.
Caren and I had some great discussions on how the school was getting better at finding cheaper custom solutions to the various challenges the school faced. We also discussed at how differently but equally, if not more so, impressive that kids were learning to adapt to and overcome physical and mental obstacles to each being unique and thoughtful individuals.
Lunch was good, the sandwiches had great bread.
We ended up getting three rooms solidly done, and I cleaned up even some of the other doors to make them better. By the end, the classrooms looked markedly better with a fresh coats of paint.
I thought about how physical man hours goes into the smallest tasks, and that you wouldn’t learn or know about that unless you spent the time, painting or sanding or working.
And This was by no means my first rodeo, so I can learn over experiences that painting is a laborious task. It’s not hard, but it requires some patience and evenness to paint well, avoid drips and splotches. Even coatings. Second coatings. Careful taping to make clean lines.
The hand drill felt comfortable in my hand, I wasn’t unaware of it, but also maybe having the shooting range experience tempered the fear? Hesitation?
The school looked way nicer with the coat of paint and it was cool how much they were able to get accomplished. I really enjoyed spending the time, I am glad I got another volunteer experience in. and it was cool to hangout with Val and Sebastian.