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Southwest Airlines Community

Lending a Hand to our Neighborhood School

wbartels
Adventurer C
The following is a guest post from Customer Relations Employees Gary Reyes and Trent Wilkins. Over the past year, the Customer Relations and Rapid Rewards Department (CR/RR) has taken the initiative to share LUV with our neighbors—the wonderful students and staff of Maple Lawn Elementary School, which has been educating children at the corner of Cedar Springs and Inwood Drive since 1932. Chartiable1After organizing a school supply drive last August, and providing meals to Maple Lawn families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, CR/RR was privileged to lend a hand, or more specifically a lot of hands, to Maple Lawn’s “Big Dig” event on February 22.  With a landscape design provided by REAL School Gardens, the financial support of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, and the strong backs of our CR/RR Employees, the students of Maple Lawn now have a beautiful, functional, and highly educational garden on the grounds of their school, providing them the opportunity to grow fresh herbs and fruit for their dining hall. Our Team was able to participate in a number of activities to transform the courtyard into a live, learning garden, some of which included building an arbor, painting gutters, laying irrigation pipes, and sodding grass. Our team felt a special sense of pride every time we saw Southwest metal flying overhead almost every 30 minutes, and we let others know!
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Research has proven that transforming low-income elementary schools’ existing resources and their outdoor spaces can produce long-lasting results. The REAL School Gardens partner schools, for example, have seen standardized test score pass rates increase between 12 and 15 percent after renovations take place. It was an honor and privilege to share our Servants’ Hearts to immediately impact our local community. Plus, the CR/RR Community Outreach Team had a combined working effort of 90 hours toward the Tickets for Time program, so Maple Lawn Elementary School will be receiving two roundtrip green passes courtesy of all of CR/RR’s volunteer hours!