River Trails Elementary is up and running—with a little help from its friends

Featured Image: River Trails Elementary Volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Photo courtesy of Kiera Elledge

Remember the story of Humpty Dumpty and how no one could put him back together again? Maybe all the king’s horses and men should have asked the Hurst Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for help, because on August 7th, 2019, help arrived! Over thirty excited volunteers, ages two to over sixty, from River Trails, Fort Worth, Watauga, Haltom City, Bedford, and Euless, helped do just that to one elementary school – put it back together again!

In Summer 2019, River Trails Elementary School, located in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, was completely repainted and recarpeted. This meant that on the last day of school in May, every inch of wall and floor space of the two-story campus had to be completely emptied out so that the work could commence the first day of summer break and be finished by the start of school in mid-August.

Of course, as soon as the go-ahead to move back in was given, staff started coming back, but the task of putting the entire school back together again was daunting. Add in the hundreds of boxes of new instructional materials lining the hallways, summer classroom reassignments, missing and misplaced boxes, new teachers walking into walls of boxes in their rooms…and well, you can just imagine that the principal was more than excited with the prospect of some volunteers to help her teachers.

And wow, did they help! From moving boxes to cleaning instruments to rearranging shelves to hanging pictures and bulletin boards to putting tennis balls on chairs to help students’ with special needs, many hands truly did make light work. These volunteers gave freely of their time to help, smiling all the while. Principal Tammy Daggs said: “We appreciate your positive attitudes and willingness to help our school…#better together.”

So, if all the king’s horses and all the king’s men had asked this great group of volunteers for help, they might have put Humpty Dumpty back together again!