Volunteers help clean Monroe
By KRISTEN L. HAYS
The Capital-Journal

Between federal worker furloughs and a federal budget in continual limbo, Ray Harper is ready to take all the help he can get.

Harper, who is superintendent of the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site, formerly Monroe Elementary School at S.E. 15th and Monroe, Monday welcomed Kansas AmeriCorps members to roll up their sleeves to clean, sand and touch up the site.

Instead of taking the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, AmeriCorps members from Topeka, Kansas City and Wichita and volunteers from Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Topeka braved the sharp chill in the unheated building and began their rehabilitation efforts.

"Today we will honor Dr. King through our actions rather than a lot of rhetoric," Harper told the group.

Harper and his park service employees in Topeka, Teri Perry and Robin White, recently rode the same furlough roller coaster as other "non-essential" federal workers. The Three are back on the job until at least Jan. 26 because of a temporary resolution restoring paychecks as Congress continues to grapple with balancing the federal budget. If an agreement isn't reached by Jan. 26, they face more mandated days off.

The furloughs blocked efforts to repair a leaky roof over the 69-year-old school's gymnasium as well as plans to make presentations about Brown in local schools.

Subsequently, rain and snow leaked in to the gym, damaging its floor and ceiling. Harper had hoped to have old paint removed from the gym so AmeriCorps members could apply a fresh coat Monday, but, he said, "the shutdown has held us up."

That's not all. The park service doesn't know how much money it has for the rest of fiscal 1995. Harper's request to hire two to three more people to present educational programs about Brown at the site was denied, and the big dollars-- those needed to renovate the school and prepare exhitits-- remain in limbo.

"We're just one step back further from where we need to be," he said, "and that's open to the public."

So willing workers ready Monday to commemorate King's birthday with community service was a godsend.

"This is a super day for us," he said optimistically. "We couldn't as for a better way to ever celebrate a holiday."

AmeriCorps is a federally funded national initiative with more than 20,000 full- and part-time members participating in 350 grassroots programs nationwide. In Kansas, Americorps programs exist in Topeka, Hays, Horton, Kansas City, Manhattan, Wichita and the Kickapoo Indian Reservation.

Human service AmeriCorps members work with at-risk children and teens in shcools, while physical service teams work with housing and economic development organizations to build or renovate low-income housing.

The school became a national historic site commemorating the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka case in 1992. Officials hope to unveil the finished product by 1998.

That leaves Harper and his small staff to chug along with what they have, and rely on efforts such as that of AmeriCorps members Monday.

Harper quoted King as saying, "Life's most persistent, urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

"You honor Dr. King by your service," Harper said. "Not by just words. Not just today."

Photo by: Chris Ochsner/The Capital-Journal.
Photo caption: Topeka AmeriCorps team leader Marsha Ferrell sanded the seat of an old school desk Monday at Monroe School. AmeriCorps teams from across the state used Martin Luther King Jr. Day to work on the building, which is now the Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education National Historic Site.