By Thom Patterson, CNN

December 23, 2009 8:36 a.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Architect whose home was flooded by Katrina works pro-bono to build $2-million high school stadium
• "There's a deeper meaning ... when you feel like you're serving a larger purpose," he says
• Firm's $150k donation may be fruitless if funds aren't raised in time
• "It's a very scary time for our project right now," says school athletic director

(CNN) -- New Orleans architect Mark Ripple only plays the occasional game of poker, but he's willing to put all his chips on the table and risk at least $150,000 on somebody else's dream.

That's the estimated value of in kind contributions that Ripple, his partners and consultants are donating to build what's been dubbed the 9th Ward Field of Dreams -- a community track and athletic field in part of the city hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina more than four years ago. When it's all said and done next summer, his firm Eskew+Dumez+Ripple will have given an estimated 500 man-hours toward a $2-million project that's become a symbol of community recovery.

"The hurricane was such a transformational experience," said Ripple, an architect for 30 years and a lifelong New Orleans resident.

When Katrina flooded Ripple's family home under 8 feet of water, it changed him. When he found himself accepting help from friends who ripped out useless drywall, swept out mud and tossed ruined beds through the windows, it changed him. "I went through this with my wife and kids in a house that I built and renovated with my own two hands," he said.