Here's What’s Next

Or

Nine days in May

Yard by yard
Life is hard
But
Inch by inch
Life’s a cinch

When something happened daily life is a cinch.

Something happens daily at the old Erin Public School that has been opened to the Community’s youth. Let me share a few days events with you to give you the feel of how community is behind having a youth centre open basically free for the kids.

Saturday
Erin Hoops spent nothing at a garage sale today.  One of our community supporters, who wishes to remain anonymous, spent $4 for us and got a couch and matching chair, a desk and secretary's chair, a low 5 foot round coffee table, a kitchen table, 3 or 4 lamps and shades, 10 badminton rackets, a basketball, two coffee type tables, 4 miscellaneous chairs, and two boxes that we do not yet know what is inside them.  Maybe Erin Hoops should hold an auction if it ever can not meet its bills.

Sunday
A day of rest.  No.  A box of books for youth, mysteriously appeared in the reading room for the kids.

Monday
Internet rules for darts was printed out, to be posted in the kitchen/dart safety room once a small chalk board is obtained to keep score on.

Tuesday
Two “cinchy” things today.  One: A Fisher-Price multi-toy games table 2 feet by 3 feet was donated to us today.  Two: The two “damaged” legs on one of the ping pong tables got rebuilt and fixed.

Wednesday
Long word.  Big day. 

Cinch one: A announcement board sign appeared in front of THE CENTRE.  We the people involved phoned each other on it and had a lot of fun asking “Who got that donated to us?”  Also we had fun saying, “If it was ours we’d have had information on it as soon as it arrives”, naturally the size of our verbosity got alluded to, also.  One person even added we would probably have changed it four times to different messages on the first day, alone.

Cinch Two: THE CENTRE got a full size pool table and big, ”WOWs!´ from kids who saw it and lots of adrenalin rushes as the kids roared into the room to play pool.

Cinch Three:  Believe it or not, kids were seen playing school in the games room using the blackboard and chalk and coffee tables and chairs.  Learning was occurring.

Cinch Four:  38 people used THE CENTRE from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.  The place jumped in fun.

Thursday
Stopped in Erin Foodlands (one of the businesses in Town that strongly supports THE CENTRE”s activities).  Congratulated on what doing at THE CENTRE.  Asked, “What else do you need?”  Being caught off guard, fumbled the answer.  For your interest and possible help here is the current wants-wish list as of May/04:

• Board games of all types like Monopoly, Backgammon, Dominos, Chinese checkers, etc.

• Lego pieces

• Portable basketball basket

• Radio

• Boom Box

• VCR

• DVD player

• Shuffle board table

• Badminton nets

• Volleyball and volleyball net

• Wall clock for gym

• Stapler (not staples, we have lots of them)

• Small chalk board

• Floor hockey sticks

• Hockey nets

• Another refrigerator

• Another Foosball game

• Another pool table

• Pool table sticks

• Set of pool balls vs billiard balls which we have

• Chairs that either fold up or stack together

• Dance, stage lights

• Stage sound system

• Decks of cards

• Freezer  

• Individual puzzles to play with

• Books for youth and teens

• Electric industrial floor scrubber

• $$ donations to augment our monthly operating costs

Friday
We found a commercial source of arcade games that we would have installed that were between 25 and 50 cents a play.  (Half the revenue goes toward THE CENTRE”s operating costs.)

Saturday
An at cost ROCKETRY workshop started to take shape.  It will be cost of materials and donation jar financed.  The instructor is doing the workshop to help THE CENTRE as well as add to the gigantic flow of community spirit to help make THE CENTRE totally affordable and unique to our Town.  This workshop will probably be offered on a regular monthly basis.

Sunday
16 “well used” gym mats (4feet by 4 feet each) arrived to pad the gym walls under the baskets.  These were mats that were being discarded elsewhere.  They are perfectly good for our need. Especially since it saves us over $2,500 for new ones that might serve our purposes aesthetically better, but not any better functionally.  (Hey, if you do not like the aesthetics, here is a good place for a donation.)

Monday
Two under 17 local basketballers were taken to try out for the regional team sponsored by Nike and Basketball Ontario through the Juvenile Development Program.  P.S.  A similar program in the Midget Development Program for boys under 15 has been organized to occur as a Regional Try-Out in THE CENTRE’s gym on Sat. May 22 starting at 3:30 through 6:00 pm.

And so it goes daily.

Yes, it is inch by inch THE CENTRE is changing.

Life is not only a cinch.  It can be awesome.

It has been awesome sharing this with you.

These nine days were the first nine days of May 2004.