Well leave it to Dr. King…

… to help me resolve the emotion pull I was feeling when reflecting on our day at West Seattle Elementary and Pat’s post on his team’s project at a school in New Orleans (both below). West Seattle Elementary School's students and families face the challenges of poverty - 88% qualify for free or reduced school lunch - and, in many cases, the challenges of acclimating to life in a new country. They deserve better access to art, better access to play and a vibrant and welcoming school facility – all the things our project was about. But I can guarantee you that, despite its need of enhancements, no WSE student at any time would ever refer to their school as a “prison”. Compared to a group of trailers surrounded by fencing, the formerly institutional-looking hallways at WSE don’t seem quite so bad.

Then I remembered something that both Governor Gregoire and Representative McDermott shared at our project kick-off from Dr. King:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

All children deserve to go to school in a facility that is warm, welcoming and safe. And when it comes time to solve problems, you help where you can with the resources you’ve got. You see an injustice that you have the ability to impact and you do something about it. This weekend we had two amazing groups of volunteers enhancing schools each doing their parts, in their own ways, to build thriving communities.

-- Tara