KaBOOM! and Long-Time Partner Motorola Build New Playground in Waveland, Mississippi
Playground is third built by KaBOOM! in the Gulf Coast through Operation Playground
On a beautiful Mississippi day, more than 250 volunteers from Motorola, the local community, Hands on Network, AmeriCorps*NCCC and City Year gathered in Wilcox Community Park to build a great new place to play for children in Waveland, Miss.
The playground was the ninth built by Motorola and KaBOOM! since 1999 and the third built by KaBOOM! in the Gulf Coast as part of Operation Playground: Rebuilding Playgrounds; Restoring Childhoods, an initiative to help Gulf Coast communities build or refurbish playgrounds destroyed during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, we called upon our partners to help us begin to rebuild playgrounds and help restore childhoods along the Gulf Coast. Motorola enthusiastically answered the call,” said Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder, KaBOOM!. “Motorola knows, like we do, that children and communities need playgrounds to restore normalcy and provide a place to come together and play.”
Demonstrating their commitment to rebuilding not just communications in Mississippi, but community, more than 150 top company officers from Motorola participated in the one-day community playground build.
“Motorola’s response team arrived just hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, focusing on restoring mission critical interoperable communications to law enforcement and other first responders,” said Mark Moon, vice president, Motorola.
“We knew that we had to take first things first, but resolved to return to do more to help lift spirits in the hardest hit areas. Partnering with KaBOOM! enables us to offer a hands-on humanitarian way to create a place for children and families to spend quality time, to play and recharge their spirit during what everyone knows will be a long recovery process,” he added.
Through Operation Playground, KaBOOM! will build or refurbish 100 playgrounds in the Gulf Coast between December 2005 and December 2007. The first Operation Playground project took place in December in
Bay St. Louis, Miss. The second, attended by First Lady Laura Bush, was with founding partner The Home Depot in neighboring
Kiln, Miss.
And, from our mailbox:
Dear KaBOOM!...
I want to thank you and Motorola for teaming up to build a playground in Waveland, MS.
As coastal geologists, we have seen first hand what destruction Hurricane Katrina brought this year. And while New Orleans has received most of the headlines, these Gulf coast communities of Mississippi received the brunt of the storm. Thank you for reaching beyond the headlines and serving the needs of a community in special need. I know these citizens are grateful for any kind of recognition from the outside, but having a playground where their children can begin to resume a normal life will mean much more than we can possibly ever know.
Keep up the good work,
M. Dennis Krohn
St. Petersburg, FL
To learn how you can support play in your community
click here.