The forums are in full swing here on kaboom.org . . .  

Answers to this and other tantalizing questions can be found on the discussion forums on the KaBOOM! website.  The concept behind these discussion forums is simple: those who are actually planning or building playspaces, and those who are rallying their communities for play, have both the best questions and the best answers. 

If you haven’t visited the forums on the KaBOOM! website recently, do go check again.  Several new posts are going up almost every day from website users, the people who are doing the planning and the building and the rallying for play.  Every once in a while a KaBOOM! staffer offers up a response, but by and large it is the experts across the U.S. who are asking the provoking questions and providing the insightful answers. 

From Casey Clark, HFF Trustee
On June 20, 2007, thanks to the collaborative efforts of Build-A-Bear Workshop, KaBOOM! and The Homeless Families Foundation, over 250 community volunteers from all walks of life came together to build a dream playground for homeless children. Volunteers hand mixed cement, moved mountains of mulch in wheel barrels and tarps, planted plants, painted murals and built benches and no one complained about the heat, everyone just enjoyed the unique experience.  Every volunteer I have talked to said it was an incredible feeling, one they will never forget; it was spiritual. All of our children participated in some way and all were so proud to say they helped make this wonderful playground possible.

What happened during Lincoln's Prep Day One? I'm glad you asked. Together Build-A-Bear, KaBOOM! and Lincoln build captains and volunteers got together in preparation for Build Day, June 27. We had a terrific crew of volunteers from Lincoln and Home Depot working on cutting wood for the side projects. Our awesome Build-A-Bear crew was working on painting the background of the mural. More Build-A-Bear and Lincoln volunteers sorted all the parts of the playground into buckets. Everyone had a wonderful time working hard all day long in order to get the site together. Playworld Systems, our playground vendor, dug the holes where the playground poles will be placed. The energy everyone had was amazing. Everyone was pumped up and excited about getting the playground ready for Build Day. Together, we can make a difference one step at a time. Our volunteers worked hard yesterday and we cannot thank them enough for taking the time out of their busy schedules to help us get things done! Lincoln is proud to work with such fine individuals.

- Jennifer Lyman

One of the advantages of living in DC is that sometimes you can luck into really fun events. Last week, we found out that KaBOOM! had been given several tickets to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

This was my first time at the famous event. I really wasn't sure what to expect. To get tickets is considered a "score" by DC locals so I was excited. So was my Mom in Ohio... And Dad... and my cousin in Jersey... etc.

Anyway, for all of those folks who have always wondered what it is like, here you go.

By Michelle Boyd, KaBOOM! client services coordinator

Yesterday, Nicholas Ackerson, another client services coordinator, and I had the pleasure of attending a press conference presented by Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps (GYAC), a New Orleans-based nonprofit that focuses on the growing crisis in the ravaged Gulf Coast.  The GYAC recruits college students from across the country to participate as counselors in a post-Katrina summer camp program that has served over 360 children.  In addition, the GYAC urges civic-minded corporations to contribute to the Action Corps cause to rebuild and sustain high quality youth services.  

Yesterday the GYAC made an urgent “call to action” to restore basic youth programs to areas hit hardest by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

By project manager Nate Rosenthal, KaBOOM! project manager 

“Let me get this straight,” exclaims the passenger sitting next to me on my flight to a February 2 Design Day in Mecca, California – a small unincorporated town of 5,400 farm workers, just southeast of Palm Springs. “KaBOOM! is going to build an entire playspace in just one day?!”

I chuckle at his sense of amazement and fill him in on some additional amazing facts: “Actually, on March 30 and 31, KaBOOM! is facilitating 10 community-built playspaces with the help of CaliforniaVolunteers, Youth Service California, and local communities all across California in an effort to celebrate and commemorate one of the most influential people in both California and United States history – Cesar E. Chavez!”