MUSINGS BY JOAN #33
No, I wasn’t at DisneyWorld with Donald & Daisy, but it was a magical morning! I was actually volunteering with Hands On Miami this morning and my job was to help paint an outdoor mural on the grounds of the Robert King High government housing for senior citizens.
Who knew that the event was co-sponsored by Disney and would turn into an incredible mix of literally hundreds of very youthful volunteers who were there to clean up the riverfront and plant a vegetable garden? Also on hand: a slew of uber-efficient black T-shirted Disney organizers, several bands playing loud Latin music, huge bunches of colored balloons, paparazzi galore to capture the moment as Dade County Mayor, Carlos Alvarez welcomed Disney and the volunteers, and TV crews from both Spanish language and regular morning news shows. The popular Spanish morning show, “Despierta America” actually filmed their entire morning segment on the grounds overlooking the Miami River.
I went with a friend from my art class, Patt Soto, who whispered to me at one point, “I think we’re the oldest volunteers here.” Patt is all of 61. Duh.
I believe the moment she noted that fact was when all the volunteers were asked to put on their Mickey Mouse ears, jump up and down and wave wildly to the TV cameras. Did I mention that the temperature was in the 90’s by this time and we were standing out in full sunlight? Yes, we waved. No, I didn’t jump up and down. Give me a break, guys.
The ears came in a very nice black canvas tote bag packed with all kinds of goodies that was handed to each volunteer as we entered the area at 7am. (We left the house at 6:30 in the pitch dark.) The bag contained among other things a bright turquoise T-shirt we were asked to wear while we worked, the black cap (yarmulke?) with giant ears, and a baseball mitt sized white glove with four fingers ala Mickey himself. I think it will go well with the outfit I am planning to wear to my 80th birthday dinner party.
Patt was a better sport than I. She wore her ears all morning as she painted. I graciously donated mine, as soon as possible, to Lexi, the little daughter of Serge Toussaint, the Haitian-born artist who created our mural. Serge had painted the outlines for two murals of sea scenes on free standing concrete block walls and we were to apply the color under his direction. As Patt put it, I was the good guy splashing on white paint. . .she was the bad guy, following up with black. I soon graduated to purple for the big fish’s gorgeous serrated fin. Please note the beauty of my art work in the accompanying photo.
About 15 of us painted without stopping from 8 to 10:30 when Serge pronounced the murals complete. It was a learning experience and great fun, not to mention the satisfaction of knowing that you have contributed something to your community.
I loved every minute of it, even if I was the oldest volunteer there. If you come to Miami I’ll be glad to run you over to admire our work.
# # # #
Photo captions: Daisy, Donald , Patt & Joan with artist Serge Toussaint.
The volunteer artist at work
No, I wasn’t at DisneyWorld with Donald & Daisy, but it was a magical morning! I was actually volunteering with Hands On Miami this morning and my job was to help paint an outdoor mural on the grounds of the Robert King High government housing for senior citizens.
Who knew that the event was co-sponsored by Disney and would turn into an incredible mix of literally hundreds of very youthful volunteers who were there to clean up the riverfront and plant a vegetable garden? Also on hand: a slew of uber-efficient black T-shirted Disney organizers, several bands playing loud Latin music, huge bunches of colored balloons, paparazzi galore to capture the moment as Dade County Mayor, Carlos Alvarez welcomed Disney and the volunteers, and TV crews from both Spanish language and regular morning news shows. The popular Spanish morning show, “Despierta America” actually filmed their entire morning segment on the grounds overlooking the Miami River.
I went with a friend from my art class, Patt Soto, who whispered to me at one point, “I think we’re the oldest volunteers here.” Patt is all of 61. Duh.
I believe the moment she noted that fact was when all the volunteers were asked to put on their Mickey Mouse ears, jump up and down and wave wildly to the TV cameras. Did I mention that the temperature was in the 90’s by this time and we were standing out in full sunlight? Yes, we waved. No, I didn’t jump up and down. Give me a break, guys.
The ears came in a very nice black canvas tote bag packed with all kinds of goodies that was handed to each volunteer as we entered the area at 7am. (We left the house at 6:30 in the pitch dark.) The bag contained among other things a bright turquoise T-shirt we were asked to wear while we worked, the black cap (yarmulke?) with giant ears, and a baseball mitt sized white glove with four fingers ala Mickey himself. I think it will go well with the outfit I am planning to wear to my 80th birthday dinner party.
Patt was a better sport than I. She wore her ears all morning as she painted. I graciously donated mine, as soon as possible, to Lexi, the little daughter of Serge Toussaint, the Haitian-born artist who created our mural. Serge had painted the outlines for two murals of sea scenes on free standing concrete block walls and we were to apply the color under his direction. As Patt put it, I was the good guy splashing on white paint. . .she was the bad guy, following up with black. I soon graduated to purple for the big fish’s gorgeous serrated fin. Please note the beauty of my art work in the accompanying photo.
About 15 of us painted without stopping from 8 to 10:30 when Serge pronounced the murals complete. It was a learning experience and great fun, not to mention the satisfaction of knowing that you have contributed something to your community.
I loved every minute of it, even if I was the oldest volunteer there. If you come to Miami I’ll be glad to run you over to admire our work.
# # # #
Photo captions: Daisy, Donald , Patt & Joan with artist Serge Toussaint.
The volunteer artist at work
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