You don’t have to look very hard to see that our world has a lot of brokenness and pain. We chose beNOBLE as one of our core pillars because we want to do our part to give back and help others. We don’t do this perfectly but we want to keep this at the forefront of our minds and make sure we proactively make time for this. 

Mike and I (Andrew) recently had an opportunity to help build a playground for a local school. Construction work is not either of our areas of expertise but who doesn’t like to get their hands dirty every now and again for a good cause? We joined about 10 other volunteers to build a large playground that was gifted to the school and spread mulch.

You would think a Saturday morning in July would be blazing hot but we were “blessed” with a rainy morning creating quite a muddy playground area. 

The frame of the playground was already in place so our first orders were to move all the slide pieces into place and dig holes for the concrete foundations. I never knew plastic slides could be so heavy! And whatever muscles are used for posthole digging… I don’t have them!

To save money the school went old-school by mixing each individual component of the cement. The recipe? Mix three scoops gravel, two scoops sand, and one scoop concrete all into a rotating barrel. Add water until the texture appears right and repeat till you have enough to start filling wheel barrows. A few hours of this and my arms and back were shot. 

The entire project was not done by the end of our shift. There will be a few more days of work to bring this playground to completion but there is a sense of satisfaction in doing our small part. 

So, join us in looking for ways to give back to others around us. Pick up a shovel and sling some gravel, donate to a cause that helps others in need, or simply show kindness to your neighbors and those around you.