The hard work and blood and sweat of Rockland native Brian Bordainick has paid off with the announcement that the 9th Ward Field of Dreams Project, which he’s promoted as athletics director at Katrina-ravaged Carver High School in New Orleans, has  been awarded a $200,000 grant to rebuild fields that were an anchor to one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

The grant is part of the National Football League’s Grassroots Program, which this year is allocating $2.5 million in grants to community groups in areas within the NFL’s 32 franchise markets.

The grant, which inspired  Bordainick to undertake a  massive application and fundraising effort,  has pushed the  pledges  for Carver’s new fields past the $1 million  mark on the way to a goal of  $1.85 million.

At first, raising the minimum of $200,000 to qualify for a matching grant seemed impossible, but in the days just before the application deadline Nike, the New Orleans Recovery School District and even a New Orleans City Council member made pledges that topped that original goal. When local architects, engineers and contractors committed close to $500,000 in in-kind services, it became clear the project would require substantially more money than initially thought.

A second commitment  from the Recovery School District,  a $10,000 donation from a local Kiwanis group and more than $31,000 in small, individual contributions — including many from Carver athletes and their hard-pressed families — set the stage for the NFL announcement.

The project’s Web site www.9thwardfieldofdreams.com today lists the total raised to date as $1,057,729.

Bordainick, who became athletic director in November 2007 at 22, is the youngest person in that role in Louisiana.

For an overview of how the project has unfolded under his leadership, check out this column on the 9th Ward Field of Dreams.