9th Ward Field of Dreams

Several months ago, the 9th Ward Field of Dreams was just a long-shot idea for Brian Bordainick, George Washington Carver High School’s 23-year-old athletic director. Inspired by the football players, who attend school in trailers and practice in a lot bordered by the Katrina-damaged school building and a house knocked off its foundation, Bordainick heard about an NFL Grassroots Program grant and started pounding the pavement, drumming up the necessary $200,000 in initial fundraising, in order to apply.

He enlisted the help of local architecture firm, Eskew + Dumez + Ripple, who drafted plans for a new track and football facility. Now, thanks to numerous gifts—from $5 individual donations to the NFL grant—Bordainick and others have raised over $1 million dollars towards their $1.8 million goal, and opened a fund at GNOF to take advantage of the Foundation’s donor services.

“They free us up to be doing what we should be doing,” says Bordainick.

The project proposal describes the Field of Dreams as “a multi-purpose facility that will be used not only by G.W. Carver High School, but by the entire local community,” and as “a catalyst for the rebuilding of school and community-based youth recreational and athletic programming throughout the city.”

Bordainick looks forward to seeing the Rams play their first home football game, “My students are so used to getting what someone else doesn’t want. We really want to be able to say, ‘Here’s something that’s brand new and awesome, and it’s yours. So do it, take it, run with it.’ ”

To learn more about the project, visit their website.

Photo courtesy of CBS.