Volunteers Give San Bruno School a Facelift

The students of Parkside Intermediate School in San Bruno arrived for
classes Friday greeted by a new mural and other signs that their school
has been on the receiving end of a huge volunteer effort.  

Through a project organized by Hands On Bay Area, over 120 volunteers from
Netsuite, a leading integrated web-based business software developer based in San Mateo, conducted a community service project aimed at providing much needed aesthetic embellishment for the middle school.

The service consisted of painting the gymnasium doors, weight rooms, and exterior doors, as well the picnic benches located on the upper play court, and an entire repainting the outbuilding room used to teach the strings music class.  

New shelving was purchased and installed. Perhaps the most noticeable improvement is a new sport-themed mural on exterior gymnasium wall facing the ball field.

The mural depicts children playing softball, soccer, flag football and basketball. The silhouettes were produced by tracing actual Parkside students. Mrs. Addiago, principal of Parkside states, “I dedicated the mural to the greater San Bruno community to demonstrate respect for all the sports clubs, and children who play at and on the fields, because in reality we are all one big family!  It reflects the true
spirit of Parkside - one that embraces opportunity to support and participate not only with our students, but all of San Bruno”.

Parent Ray Fucini, vice president of San Bruno Education Foundation, a nonprofit that raises funds for local schools, is credited with championing the effort. He states “One goal is to collaborate with parents, volunteer organizations and corporations to bring much needed resources to all of our schools”.

This is the third such HoBa effort completed this year including both El Crystal and Parkside schools, with an estimated value greater than $12,000 overall, including cash donations, labor and materials.

Mr Fucini adds “even more important than the financial contributions and improvements is the overriding message that outside organizations care about the well being of our local schools and show support in a constructive manner. This provides greater incentive for our local leaders to take on the critical responsibility of providing for our schools.”

(Editor's Note: This information was submitted to Patch by San Bruno Education Foundation.  If you would like to donate money or a work crew to future projects, visit the foundation's webpage.)