Mahalia Jackson Elementary School sits on a triangle-like plot of land, bordered by a missionary church, rows of homes and the rusty tracks of the Metra commuter rail. It is a beige and white building, boxy and unadorned. Officials say it looks the same as it did 25 years ago, and that it was not built to last this long.

This week, though, there is new hope at Mahalia Jackson. Inside the school, the smell of wet paint wafts from the gymnasium and cafeteria. Fresh flowers bloom near the entrance. Out back, on the baseball field, bright, white bases rest on newly poured red clay.

The improvements came thanks to the work of 200 volunteers, who pitched in at the school last week.

Their work was a joint project of the Jane Addams Hull House Association, a Chicago nonprofit social-service agency; City Year Chicago, a youth service corps; and Aramark Corp., a global professional-services company. This is the second year that Aramark employees have teamed with Hull House to renovate run-down sites in the city.

Principal Kimberly McNeal says school officials planned to build a new, more modern school many years ago. Lacking that, she says, she is thrilled with the work of 200 volunteers who last week helped renovate the only building she has.

Briana Solarte, community relations manager at Hull House, says volunteers picked the school from an initial set of 42 sites in Chicago.

"We obviously cannot rebuild the school, but we're doing what we can to brighten it up," she says.

According to district officials, the school was built in 1972. It serves about 320 students, some deaf, hard of hearing or learning disabled.

"It's in relatively good condition at this point, and there are no plans to make any changes with the building," Chicago Public Schools spokesman Malon Edwards says.

Erin Vaughan, vice president for government relations at Aramark, says the goal of the renovation project is to help students at Mahalia Jackson, 96 percent of whom the district considers low income, make the best of what they have.

"At the end of the day, they can't shut it down because the kids need to be educated," Vaughan says. "When you brighten up a place, the people in that place are brighter."

Students seem to agree.

"It shows that someone is caring, and trying to make a difference about the appearance of the school," says eighth-grader Angel Roberts, 14. "Change takes time. Maybe one day, they will rebuild the school."