Six TIAA members met at the DISD Francisco "Pancho" Medrano Middle School early on MLK Day – January 21st. Our objectives were to assist some 90 “City Year” members paint murals in the relatively new school hallways and to build lunch time picnic tables for students' use outside. City Year members are part of the “AmeriCorps” organization – the domestic version of “Peace Corps” – and they are dedicated to strengthening communities. AmeriCorps members can choose to commit to service anywhere from three months to a year and benefits for the program may lead to assistance in educational loans and awards for college upon completion of their volunteer term. We were really impressed in how organized the City Year participants were in preparing the hallways and the picnic table wood pieces so that our tasks could be completed quickly. Four of our participants chose to paint murals and two chose to build picnic tables. By the noon lunch break three floors of murals and 10 picnic tables were completed! The Medrano students undoubtedly were surprised and elated upon coming back to school on Tuesday when they saw the beautiful artwork and well-built picnic tables. A truly wonderful gift to Medrano Middle School for which we were proud to have contributed to the success.