Miramar Park in Biloxi, MS used to be one of the premiere destination parks in the city.  Miramar was where all of the summer camps were held and where families could often be found playing and enjoying the Gulf air.  When Hurricane Katrina came, that all changed.  Since Miramar Park is right on the beach, the water line from the storm surge was 25 feet high.  The playground equipment that had been there was severely damaged; most of the houses around the park are gone and there are lots of empty spaces in their place; and while homes used to be across the street, the closest home is now a block away.

 

Under the guidance of Project Manager Whitney Hampton, 300 volunteers worked hard to build a new playground at Miramar Park returning the spirit of play.  Mayor A.J. Holloway helped kick off the day along with Kyle Waide, Integration Manager with Community Affairs at The Home Depot and Michelle Nunn, CEO and Co-Founder of Hands On Network.  After the kick off, the team was ready to get to work.    Not only did they build a super playground that included a rock climbing wall and 3 bays of swings, but they also built a Playweb and a Dino Dig increasing the fun even further.  To enhance the area around the playground, 3 playhouses, multiple picnic tables, and several shade structures were constructed.  The transformation was amazing!

 

Local residents shared through out the day how important the park used to be to their community and how significant the new park will be for the children of Biloxi. In less than 6 hours, the park had been renewed.  Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder of KaBOOM!, Nathan Sullivan, Director of the Biloxi Park and Recreation Department, Kevin Martinez, Director of Community Affairs for The Home Depot, and Michelle Nunn from Hands On Network all participated in the board cutting to mark the end of a great day.

Scroll down to the end of the story to see how Miramar Park looked right after Katrina.
 

 

This morning at 8 am at the Hancock Medical Center in Bay St. Louis, MS, 60 volunteers kicked off the last day of Anniversary Week with a project that offers fun for children and for adults.  This special project included a phenomenal playground for young people visiting the hospital AND a Life Trail for older yet young at heart and playful adults.   With lively music, played by the DJ who is a physician at Hancock and who had just finished working through the night, the volunteers got a lot done in a few short hours.

 

Throughout the morning, more volunteers joined the fun increasing the count to 125.  The hospital administrator, Hal Leftwich, also worked diligently all day, and when it was time to cut the board at 12:30, he thanked everyone for transforming the site.  Volunteer Rachel Rimmer reflected, “After such a traumatic event and the changes that accompany it, children deserve to be happy.”  With today’s activities, that has been made possible. In addition to the playground and the Life Trail, 4 Mendocino benches were built and primed for painting, a new community bulletin board was created, and 12 signs with inspirational words of poetry were installed along the walking trail.

 

 

Just before 3 pm today, the last project for Anniversary Week sponsored by KaBOOM!, The Home Depot, Playworld Systems, and Hands On Network was finished.  In Slidell, LA at Carolyn Park Middle School almost 250 volunteers came together to build a new playground for the wonderful students of the school.  Employees of local companies and The Home Depot, Hands On Network volunteers, Army, Navy, and Coast Guard representatives, and close to 100 parents all spent the day creating a new, safe place for play.

 

Doreen Grasso –Director of Policies for the Governor’s office, Trey Folse –Deputy Superintendent of the school district, Principal Anthony Espisido, and Former Principal Gwendolyn Doyle all greeted the volunteers at the beginning of the day.  Each person expressed a lot of gratitude and recognized the power of volunteers to bring about change.  Doreen Grasso shared that recovery from the hurricane is a long process, but when events like this happen they make it seem possible and real.

 

At the end of the day, cheers could be heard throughout the neighborhood as the 500 Carolyn Park students left the school.  Their excitement about being able to enjoy the playground, each other, and the fun of childhood was evident.  Thank you to the thousands of volunteers and to the project partners who helped to make this Anniversary Week of 10 playspaces in 4 days possible!