UP F RONT
Inspirations a guide to the spiritual community WOODSIDE VILLAGE CHURCH Sunday Worship 9:30 a.m. with Sunday School and Nursery Care Pastor Mike Harvey Rev. Dorothy Straks
Photo by Kerry Lobel
The House that Hillview Built is now being enjoyed by toddlers served by the nonprofit Puente in Pescadero. Delivered in the rain by Hillview volunteers, it is now covered by a tarp, but will be topped with asphalt shingles soon.
3154 Woodside Road Woodside 650.851.1587 www.wvchurch.org
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A partnership that’s built around learning, community — and play By Renee Batti Almanac News Editor
T
he cover of the April 2 edition of the Almanac featured a photo of Hillview Middle School students raising walls of a bright blue playhouse they had designed and built, under the guidance of woodshop teacher Mike Bratt, as part of the school’s week-long, hands-on learning program pioneered in mid-March. The completed structure was a source of pride to the junior builders, their parents, and their teacher. But what happened to “The House that Hillview Built” — which was pretty much without a practical function on the Menlo Park middle school campus — after it served its instructional purpose? Thanks to the commitment of some community members to the nonprofit organization Puente, which serves residents of the county’s South Coast communities — a largely poor popu-
lation that includes farmworkers and their families — and the efforts of the students, Mr. Bratt and community volunteers, the structure now sits in the Puente playground in Pescadero. “Already, the playhouse is a
‘Many of the children that Puente serves live in small barracks or trailers, so the playhouse seems luxurious.’ KERRY LOBEL PUENTE’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
big success,” said Kerry Lobel, Puente’s executive director. “Seriously, there are children in there from morning until night.” Ms. Lobel said Pescadero has no parks or toddler playgrounds, “so the Puente property is home to a great toddler
play structure, and now the fantastic playhouse. ... Many of the children that Puente serves live in small barracks or trailers, so the playhouse seems luxurious.” Barrett Moore, a parent volunteer who helped with the playhouse-building course, said she and other local people are regular supporters of Puente, a resource center that “runs all sorts of creative, educational, vocational and family services.” “The Hillview kids were so great,” Ms. Moore said after the playhouse was delivered. “Their ideas and hard work really hit a home run with the little kids at Puente. “The dog door needed to be explained to them, though. When you live in a labor camp, there is no such thing as a ‘dog door.’ But once it was explained, they began crawling in and out of it — just as our kids had See PLAYHOUSE, page 19
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April 16, 2014 N TheAlmanacOnline.com N The Almanac N 3