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, Brian Bordainick, and his efforts to raise $200,000 for the field. The money was needed to qualify for a matching grant from the NFL. Now, though, the project has snowballed into so much more.

"Then, when we started working with our architectural teams and kind of putting the scope of the project together, they're like, 'I guess $400,000 doesn't buy you what it used to anymore,'" Bordainick said. "They were saying $400,000 is going to basically get you a grass patch in the middle of the 9th Ward."

The new plan calls for a $1.8 million project that would build a football field, track and 500-seat bleacher section -- a dream field to be built not just for the school, but the whole community, too. Donations, both big and small, have been coming in and total more than $800,000 so far.

"People have been coming up to the school, dropping off checks," Bordainick said. "You know, even smaller amounts, too, which is really cool. We have people calling up and saying, 'We don't have much to give. We have six bucks, best of luck,' and that's awesome."

For Carver High's football coach, Shyrone Carey, the project is something his team, and students at the school, could really use.

"It's one of those things that kind of took on a life of its own," Coach Carey said. "It's for a good cause, and at the end of the day, it can make the kids lives better and that's what we're all here for."

"We got a little ways to go," Bordainick. "So, we're keeping our eyes on the prize and we're going to try and execute and really pull of something truly amazing for New Orleans."

The school will find out after the New Year, whether they will get the NFL grant.

(In the meantime, if you would like to help, you can go to the project's website www.9thwardfieldofdreams.com)