Volunteers erecting massive play structure this week

EAGLE - Gail Hill stood behind a table Wednesday morning greeting volunteers at the entrance to a temporary village of sorts that's sprung up behind Wacousta Elementary school.

Behind her saws were buzzing and groups of volunteers wearing blue t-shirts that read "Dream Builder" were securing long composite wood stakes into the ground — a foundation for Dream Depot 2.0, an 8,000-square-foot play structure.

Her late husband Dick Hill, the school's principal 26 years ago, passed away in 2009 but she said he would have been amazed by everything supporters have invested in the project and the effort to build it.

"In everything," she said. "Everything's different. I was in one of the meetings and they were saying, 'How could we have ever done this without social media?' You know, we didn't have that back in 1990 either."

Hill's husband championed the first Dream Depot. It took staff and volunteers 14 months to raise $55,000 and two days to erect it. Then last August it was deemed unsafe by school officials and torn down.

Wednesday school staff, alumni and community members got to work building a new one. They raised over $200,000 to pay for it and hope to finish it by Sunday. ​

Hill, 73, watched, a smile on her face. "That's the Wacousta community," she said.

Not one of the organizers disagreed.

Cindy Zerbe, a school secretary, said at least 900 volunteers have signed up to take shifts to construct the playground. Some of them have construction experience, others have none, but there's a need for all of them.

"Things are coming in waves," she said. "We're still expecting a load of lumber later today but at 7 a.m. this morning people started arriving and we're building."

Cory Dykhuizen has been involved from the start. The former student stood among tables where volunteers were cutting frames for the structure and a large tent where volunteers will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on Wednesday.

"People are moving back and forth between jobs as they need to," he said. "It's been a long process. It's kind of neat to see it all come to fruition. People are out here, saws are running, poles are going into the ground. It means a lot."

Meanwhile two staff members from Ithaca, New York-based Leathers & Associates, the company responsible for the first play structure's design and the new one, are overseeing everything. Helping them are volunteer committee members, many of whom are former students who were there when the first Dream Depot was constructed.

Mikel Kellogg, 33, was in first grade when the first structure was built. She even helped, soaping screws and sanding. Wednesday she was wearing the blue volunteer t-shirt, pink work gloves and a tool belt. She doesn't have children at the school but couldn't not be involved.

"We grew up here," Kellogg said. "The community raised us to be giving, loving wonderful people and what better way to give back than giving them a new playground? We're holding up posts, making sure they're tapped down and level and having fun."

Jordan Kohn lives in Lansing but was in Kellogg's class and helped rally fellow alumni to raise funds for the playground.

"These were the best times in my life, being on that playground and around kids," he said. "When you have something from when you were a little kid and still remember it when you're 32, 33 years old, you want kids to have that now. Hopefully they'll never have a year without a playground."

Zerbe is so invested that she's sleeping in a camper behind the school through Sunday "just to make sure no one tampers with stuff at night." She admits there are tissues in her tool belt in case she begins to cry happy tears.

She pointed to a line of kindergarten students walking with their teacher around the orange fencing that surrounds the construction site.

"They are just so excited to have something," she said. "They are what it's all about. It's for them."

Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at (517) 528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.

Grand Ledge community raises nearly $200K to rebuild Dream Depot

Want to volunteer?

Wacousta Elementary staff and volunteers will be constructing the Dream Depot 2.0 through Sunday afternoon. They welcome volunteers willing to take shifts during construction. Sign up to help at www.savethedreamdepot.webs.com or call the school at 925-5940.