DEL.ICIO.USThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/27/08
Walter Browning could only laugh Thursday afternoon when he heard the question: Is there anything you'd rather be doing than painting blacktop in the middle of a 90-degree day?
Funny thing: There really wasn't. And so, there he was, Browning and about 300 other volunteers, young and old, pouring the sweat of their labors into a cause they believe in: making a better home away from home for disadvantaged and at-risk youths.
 Alexander Acosta/AJC | ||
| The Taco Bell Foundation and other volunteers completely renovated southwest Atlanta's Boys & Girls Club in one day. The children were kept away to increase the surprise factor. | ||
 Alexander Acosta/AJC | ||
| Gretchen Hardeman, a Taco Bell Restaurant manager, trims the edges of the freshly painted play area.
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The group spent the day refurbishing the Woolfolk Boys & Girls Club in southwest Atlanta, one of the 25 social, recreational and educational centers run by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta. The facility, though still functional, had become worn with age and use and needed more than a little sprucing.
The volunteers and the Atlanta Taco Bell Foundation jumped in to provide the hard work and the hard cash to do the job, renovating everything from the playground, the teen room and the weight room to the ceilings, the walls and the tables.
It was a one-day, all-day effort they termed an "extreme makeover."
Some of the center's prime users, about 200 club members ages 6 to 12, were sent off to Six Flags Over Georgia in the morning so that when they returned late in the afternoon they would get the surprise of their lives.
The prospect of their delight motivated Browning, who's been a club member for 11 of his 17 years.
"I'm really dedicated to the club," the Washington High School student said before heading back to his paintbrush and the blacktop. "It's where I was partly raised and it kept me out of trouble."
Added Browning, "It's about giving back."
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