If there were two words which describe the bustle of activity at the building of Mikey's Place, they are TEAMWORK and COOPERATION. Without this teamwork and cooperation and the dedication of the volunteers to the memory of Mikey and dedication to the Daversa family, this whole dream would have collapsed. Manpower, womanpower, childpower - all were needed and utilized from the break of dawn to dusk each day, regardless of the weather.

Teamwork works! Having assembled the large swing array, the guys are getting ready to heft and carry it over to the north corner of the site, the long way, around the trees and the mountain of wood chips which blocked their way.

"Installing LARGE swing set- with difficulty!" Having gotten it to the site, the guys busied themselves with aligning the swing frame in all directions.

Line it up better than that! Had the framework been made of steel (instead of aluminum) a crane would have been required to set it right.

"The two-humped climbing frame was also carried by a group to the site and ............

"........and everyone lifted it and set it into its footing holes.......

"......then they called in the wheelbarrow brigade to haul in the ready-mix concrete. After adjusting the depth of the footing at each leg, the Brett Kummer and Phil Pasternak's crew shoveled enough concrete into the holes to secure the legs.

It ain't heavy - NOT!  This smaller section required every ounce of manpower (and Brett-power) since it WAS made of steel

"We need MANPOWER, more MANPOWER ! This section too proved to be somewhat uncooperative, shall we say, before it was finally installed. But installed it was, at last, the guys agreed!"

"Easy does it now; watch your TOES!"

Everyone gathers at the food tent to something hot to get them going! Taken on the first day of the project, October 21, the image reveals a few knees, indicative of the mild weather that graced the beginning of the installation. Being New England, the weather did change the next weekend (cold, wind and a brief flurry of snow)!

"Gen" Doody donates a special carrot cake; Dan and Mare accept - gladly!

High energy good (sweets) for hard workers was provided at the provisions tent!