Recovering New Orleans school has big dreams

NEW ORLEANS —  George Washington Carver High School — a collection of prefabricated buildings that sprang up amid the devastation of Hurricane Katrina — has always been a fertile ground for dreamers. Just ask Carver graduate and former NFL star Marshall Faulk.
“A lot of life-lessons were taught at that school and in that football program,” he said. “My coach got me off the street and taught me to believe in myself. That’s what football can do in a school where kids don’t have a lot of other things.”
Carver is the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to restore pride in the [...]

NFL announces grant for Carver stadium, paving way for ‘Field of Dreams’

The dream of building a new football stadium and Olympic quality track at Carver High School moved forward Monday with the announcement of an NFL grant.
Originally posted by WWLtv.com. (Video accessible at WWLtv.com)

Saints and NFL-LISC Award 200K Grant To Lower Ninth Ward for Field of Dreams at Carver HS

NEW ORLEANS, LA. – The 9th Ward Field of Dreams project at Carver High School will receive a $200,000 grant from the New Orleans Saints as part of the National Football League Grassroots Program, it was announced today.
The grant is part of $2.5 million in field refurbishment awards allocated this year to community groups in areas in the 32 NFL markets.
“The Saints are pleased to award a grant to G.W. Carver High School for the Field of Dreams,” said Saints Owner and Executive Vice President, Rita Benseon LeBlanc. “The opportunity for our youth to participate in football and other sports [...]

NO Saints and NFL Grassroots Program back Carver High sports complex effort

The Field of Dreams project at Carver High School, a determined effort to restore sports facilities in the 9th Ward, will receive a $200,000 grant from the New Orleans Saints as part of the National Football League’s Grassroots Program.

A group of teachers at the school had secured a $200,000 pledge from the Recovery School District and other donations, allowing them to meet a $200,000 minimum in early fundraising before they could apply for the NFL grant.
The monies will help reach a goal of raising $1.85 million for a synthetic turf football field with bleachers and a running track at [...]

Pushing to build Carver’s Field of Dreams

NEW ORLEANS – Brian Bordainick has no social life and rarely sleeps these days. His life is split between teaching and leading a fundraising team hoping to generate enough money to build a football field and track for Carver High School and the community. 
And now he’s taking his pitch to the Super Bowl.
“No I’ve never been to the Super Bowl. It’s going to be fun.  Just going into the media room, I can only imagine what it’s going to be like,” Bordainick said.
Brian hopes to push the “9th Ward Field of Dreams” idea from the local scene into the national [...]

Carver High AD to pitch ‘Field of Dreams’ at Super Bowl

NEW ORLEANS — Brian Bordainick will be in the throes of the media circus this week surrounding Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Fla., but he’s not one of the star athletes who will take the field Sunday or a reporter looking for a catchy quote. But he is hoping to grab some of the spotlight for his own cause.
Bordainick, athletics director at George Washington Carver High School, will be there starting Thursday to talk up his 9th Ward Field of Dreams on the campus where students and faculty are still working in temporary trailers while waiting for their old [...]

‘Field of Dreams’ in sight for Carver High School

‘Field of Dreams’ in sight for Carver High School
Carver High School Athletic Director Brian Bordainick lets you know how close his school is to securing funds to rebuild Carver’s football field.
Originally Posted on WWLtv.com.

Carver’s field of dreams brings hope to Ninth Ward community

Carver High School athletic director Brian Bordainick sat in the Rue de la Course coffee shop in downtown New Orleans at 6 a.m., six days before Christmas. The lanky, 23-year-old New York native was hunched over his computer, headphones on, trying to respond to the hundreds of e-mails he’d received in the past 24 hours, when an older man walked up to him.
Without a hello, the man slapped a $20 bill onto the table. “I really believe in what you’re doing,” the man said. “Get this done.” Then he walked away.
A few hours later, Bordainick’s cell phone rang, and he [...]

Carver gets closer to ‘Field of Dreams’

The team working on the 9th Ward “Field of Dreams” initiative woke up today to a new reality: a $100,000 donation from Nike, to turn the battered football field at G.W. Carver High School into a place of accomplishment and pride.
“If you look around, you can see that we don’t have much here — and this is what our students have to see each day when they come in,” said Vanessa Eugene, the principal at Carver High School. “And it will be awesome to actually have a stadium here.”
Eyewitness News first reported last week about Carver High’s Athletic Director, [...]

Field of Dreams

Brian Bordainick didn’t get much response when he sent e-mail blasts last month asking people to make time to discuss an ambitious idea. He wanted to talk about building a football field and track, using mostly private donations, on the campus of a flooded New Orleans high school.
He needed to raise about $200,000 to compete for an NFL matching grant.
Some wrote him back, applauding the effort. Others called the project insanely ambitious, with some noting the ongoing recession.
But Bordainick and fellow teachers at George Washington Carver High School persevered. More than a month later, supporters of the 9th Ward Field [...]