Are you on Facebook? Now you can promote the cause of play by "poking" your friends! Here's how.

First, login to Facebook. Make sure you've added the SuperPoke application.

Then, go to the SuperPoke application (which looks like this):

Select the friends you want to poke (we recommend using the "select all" button!).

Then, select the "Causes" tab and choose "Build a playground with KaBOOM!" (see below).

Then click the big "SuperPoke Them!" button.

Once you’ve sent the SuperPoke to all of your friends, you’ll be taken to a page where you can donate your Facebook status to KaBOOM!, and recruit your friends to the cause of play with KaBOOM!.

By Pete Scholz
12 News
Dec. 16, 2008

Piece by piece, students at Riverbend Preparatory Academy anxiously waited for that one thing that was missing from their new school, a playground! "They would play in this empty field that's back here, but that was pretty much it," says Tamara Hancock, who has two kids at Riverbend.

With the help of over 100 volunteers from Home Depot and the surrounding community, Kurt Warner, the NFL MVP called a different sort of play today to get the new playground equipment courtesy of the nonprofit, Kaboom! and the Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP program.

Watch the video here.

Stonyfield Farms sponsors charity contest on KaBOOM
Ameres Blog
Dec. 14, 2008
This is an interesting marketing campaing from KaBOOM! and Stonyfield Farms: By collecting yogurt lids, the winning organization gets a grant.

The real KaBoom Build
Kellie - AmeriCorps
Dec. 9, 2008
The other weekend, my team and I did some ISP- building a playground in New Orleans. It was a lot of fun and we got to be pretty creative. The next day, we went back to the playground and took pictures of it without all of the people there. It looks amazing!

A Motivated Mom
SOC387: Community Service Miniterm
Dec. 12, 2008
I’ve been very impressed and inspired by the spirit of NOLA residents. On Saturday at Kaboom I got to know a woman whose actions and attitude demonstrate a passion unique to New Orleanians. Michelean, a 32 year old mother, was friendly and excited to be at Gentilly Terrace. She explained that her family lived in the city for generations and had a hard time after the storm.

KABOOM
Project Happiness
Dec. 13, 2008
Kaboom is a corporation that helps out communities by teaching them the joys of life. They do this with the help of ordinary people from software companies. Kaboom provided Costaño Elementary School and the San Francisco 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto, CA with a safe playground.

SUNHERALD TV: Suddenly, KaBOOM! It's a playground
By JAY HUGHES
Biloxi SUN HERALD
Dec. 14, 2008

PASCAGOULA -- Volunteers turned out Saturday to assemble a new playground for central Pascagoula children, adding to the city's post-Hurricane Katrina recreational options with a little corporate help.

The KaBOOM! playground at the 12th Street Recreation Center will serve about 1,000 children a year, according to city Parks and Recreation Director Darcie Crew.
Read the full article.

Playground rises in Pascagoula Nonprofit group KaBOOM! quickly erects equipment at 12th Street center
By AMBER CRAIG
Mississippi Press
Dec. 14, 2008

PASCAGOULA - Until Saturday, the 12th Street Recreation Center playground had just the basics: a swing set, a tire swing and a slide.

In just eight hours Saturday, the aging equipment was gone, and more than 150 volunteers had turned the area into an inviting place for children to enjoy themselves.

Led by the nonprofit group KaBOOM!, the volunteers erected playground equipment, hauled mulch, mixed concrete and laid down sod.
Read the full article.

The Day After
By Alyssa Andrews 
Fairytale Brownies Blog
Dec. 5, 2008
"When we arrived at South Pointe Elementary School, there was nothing but an empty lot with many holes in the ground. By the end of the day, the playground was complete - swings, a slide, a music station, spider web climber, climbing wall, pirate ship, outdoor classroom, four square set up, tether ball, hop scotch, peace pole, planters and benches. I might be missing something, but when there are more than 250 volunteers participating, there's bound to be a detail I might miss."

Kaboom! Playground
SOC387: Community Service Miniterm Blog
Dec. 6, 2008
Today, we helped to build a playground for an elementary school. Over 100 people came from the neighborhoods, out of state universities, high schools, volunteer organizations, etc. The entire playground became a totally different one after a five-hour work. The swing was built, the basketball courts were painted, the benches were constructed, and the ground was painted for hopscotch. It was amazing to see how many things could be done with the help of a lot of people. Only five-hours of work made a better community where kids will grow up.

By Steve Block
Albert Lea (Minn.) Tribune
Dec. 5, 2008

A new playground is the focus of renewal for a neighborhood in New Orleans’ flood-ravaged lower Ninth Ward. Last weekend an Albert Lea insurance agent was part of a 270-person crew that installed playground equipment at the site.

Randy Cirksena joined other State Farm Insurance agents and a contingent of U.S. Marines in a seven-hour building project designed to serve a new modular school, consisting of 50 to 60 portable classrooms. The previous school was leveled after serious damage was inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. A recently constructed hospital stands empty nearby, another victim of the storm’s fury.

Read the full article.

By Thomas C. Tobin
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
Dec. 7, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG — Their names were Keymaun, Desmon, D'andre, Mary, Marquez and Destine — just a few of the 25 kids from the Childs Park area who were asked eight weeks ago to put crayon to paper and design the playground of their dreams.

One boy, organizers said, excitedly described his plan: a 10-foot-high slide slanting at exactly 45 degrees. The bottom, he said, should be 3 feet off the ground so you could fly through the air and come down on a patch of spongelike material.

The dream never materialized, but something just as fun popped out of the ground Saturday at Trailhead Park, 3800 Fairfield Ave. S. About 400 volunteers helped get closer to Mayor Rick Baker's goal of having a playground within a half mile of every child in the city by 2010.

Read the full article.

By Tristan Wheelock
Tampa Bay Times
Dec. 5, 2008

Organizers hope that more than 200 volunteers will converge Saturday on a bare spot of land near the Nick Capitano Boys and Girls Club near downtown. When they leave at the end of the day, a playground could stand where before there was nothing more than dirt.

This collaborative construction effort is the result of a partnership between KaBOOM, the Boys and Girls Club and the MetLife Foundation. The project, which took weeks of planning, began Oct. 1 with a set of 20 designs. These early blueprints were not the strict plans of an architect drafted carefully in technical pencil, but the honest dreams of children scrawled in bright crayon.

Read the full article.

playground zero
By Daniel Friedman
Raising Arizona Kids
"Eileen Spitalney and David Kravetz, co-founders of Phoenix-based Fairytale Brownies, spend several days each year building playgrounds. Since 2002, they have been involved with KaBOOM, a national organization dedicated to building quality play spaces for children. KaBOOM helps local entities interested in planning and building playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields and ice rinks by providing the logistical expertise to get the projects completed."

Read the full article.

Looking for a place to play?
Our 7 Qtpies
"If you are new to an area or are traveling somewhere and need some where to let the kids blow off some steam, you can go search for a play space on KaBOOM! If you don't find the places in your area on the map, you can add the ones you know about to help other families out."

Thanks to all the awesome bloggers who have been writing about the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder! Here are two from the last week:

KaBOOM! Playspace Finder
All Because Two People Fell in Love
"KaBOOM! is a national non-profit dedicated to bringing play back into children's lives. They recently launced a new online tool called the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder, which is a user-generated google map of places to play."

Playspace Finder
Straight to the Bar
"Via Move Well : looking for a new spot for your next outdoor workout? Playspace Finder will help you track down - and rate - playgrounds, skate parks, sports fields, and even ice rinks. Nice one."

Andrew Edwards
San Bernardino County Sun
Nov. 24, 2008

SAN BERNARDINO - For those who didn't know, San Bernardino's need for improved parks maintenance is now in writing.

During work to develop a master plan for San Bernardino's parks, San Juan Capistrano-based RJM Design Group surveyed a dozen Southern California cities and found that among that group, San Bernardino spent the least on park maintenance.

San Bernardino, during the 2006-07 budget year, spent only $4,755 to maintain each acre of city parkland. That is compared with the $16,406 per acre investment made by Pasadena, which spent the most among the 12.

The second and third cities on that list, Moreno Valley and Ontario, spent $13,918 and $12,723 per acre on park maintenance, respectively.

Read the full article.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A national group is aiming to make sure more kids in our area can enjoy some fun and games outside.

A playground in Howard Beach was built thanks to the hard work of neighborhood volunteers.

Kaboom, a group dedicated to bringing the gift of play into children's lives, made it possible.

Watch the video.

This week, the blog "Maria's Space" reviewed the kaboom.org website and the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder! Here's what she had to say:

"Play is an important part of childhood. A fun safe place for children is crucial when it comes to community playgrounds.

"Safety was the reason KaBoom was born. In 1995 24-year-old Darell Hammond read a story in the two children who suffocated while playing in an abandoned car because they didn’t have anywhere else to play. Knowing this was preventable he embarked on making changes that would affect his life and the life of children everywhere. He finally received financial backing from Kimberly-Clark and the rest as they say is history."

Read the full story.

Jump Into Tomorrow, a blog that prides itself in "listing and honoring breakthrough technology, amazing ideas and innovative individuals - every single day" recently spotlighted the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

Here's what they had to say:

"It's an online, user-generated map of great places to play based on any address or zip code entered. This type of technology helps online communities participate in their geographic communities in a fun and engaging way. It’s also available in widget form, so anyone can share this tool with their community."

Read the full article.

by Greg LaRose
New Orleans City Business
Nov. 24, 2008

It was a crisp Saturday morning, probably the coolest yet in New Orleans this autumn. Ordinarily, I would have joined most of the city in staying bundled up in bed, but there was a good reason to set the alarm early Nov. 15.

KaBoom, the nonprofit that’s built more than 1,500 playgrounds across the country, was back in the city to upgrade the recreational facilities at KIPP Central City Academy and Primary schools — its 114th playground build in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

To call this an upgrade is an understatement. What the nearly 200 students at the combined KIPP campus called a playground was little more than a rough patch of asphalt and a few portable basketball goals. If you aren’t familiar with KIPP school standards, do some research. You’ll quickly learn that everyone, from KIPP students to teachers and administrators, demands and deserves a higher standard.

Read the full story.

Looking for a change in attitude? Turn up the holiday gratitude
By Heidi Stevens
Chicago Tribune
Nov. 23, 2008

Excerpt:

'I want to include my kid(s)'
Try: Becoming an advocate for play by joining the KaBoom Playmakers Network, a group of adults and kids who work to build more play spaces. KaBoom is a national organization with the goal of building a place to play within walking distance of every kid in America. Kool-Aid sponsors the Playmakers Network, which instructs people on advocating for more and better play spots in their own communities.

Why? "Play is an old-fashioned solution to a host of modern problems," says Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder of KaBoom. "KaBoom works with partners like Kool-Aid to rally everyone to get involved, build playgrounds, protect recess and work to ensure that every child has a chance to play every day."

What you'll do: Playmakers can adopt a variety of roles, from working with local elected officials to fundraising to cleaning and refurbishing a run-down playground. When the weather warms back up, volunteers gather to build new playgrounds in areas of need. In October, a group of around 100 volunteers gathered in Chicago's West Ridge to build an entire playground in one day.

Now what? Go to kaboom.org/koolaid and click on "advocate."

Read the full article.

Become a Playmaker!

Fitness blog "Move Well, Be Fit, Have Fun..." featured the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder recently! Here's what they had to say about it:

"It’s a fantastic user-updated community site that currently has over 12,000 playspaces around the US. If you are looking for some green space in your neighborhood — a place to practice your parkour skills or get a nice outdoor training session in, this site is for you." Read the full article!

Also, thanks to the great folks on Twitter who have been talking about KaBOOM! lately:

@jterranova
@playparks
@lindajhutchinso
@bikutoria

Designed by kids, built by volunteers:
State Farm/State Farm Bayou Classic and KaBOOM!
team up to build new playground in just one day for New Orleans children at
Abramson Science & Technology Charter School

NEW ORLEANS – More than 200 volunteers from State Farm/State Farm Bayou Classic, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the New Orleans community will join forces on Friday, Nov. 28 to build a new, safe playground at the Abramson Science & Technology Charter School. The new playground’s design is based on drawings provided by children who attended a Design Day event in September.   

The new playground will provide more than 400 children who attend the Abramson Science & Technology Charter School with a safe place to play. Currently, the children do not have a playground at the school to play on. The playspace is the third built by KaBOOM! and State Farm in conjunction with the State Farm Bayou Classic, and one of more than 215 KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2008 in an effort to provide a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. The build is also part of Operation Playground – the KaBOOM! initiative to build playgrounds in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Rosita Elementary School gets revamped blacktop and equipment
By ELLYN PAK
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA - In less than an average workday, a few hundred volunteers transformed a barren space behind Rosita Elementary School into a kid-friendly playground Thursday.

They began working early in the morning assembling benches, pouring concrete foundations and painting parts of the blacktop as young students watched a part of their school undergo major improvements.

By the afternoon, finishing touches were placed on a red and blue playground set with a spiral slide, monorail, see-saw and sliding pole. Volunteers finished a mural made out of mosaics on wall near the cafeteria. Six newly painted basketball backboards and a painted replica of the United States on the blacktop were left to dry. [More]

As families gather for the Thanksgiving holiday, KaBOOM! CEO & Co-Founder Darell Hammond invites you to join us in honoring and recognizing outstanding volunteerism in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Hammond offered online commentary in support of CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, which will air on Thanksgiving night, Nov. 27 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT). Hosted by Anderson Cooper, the program recognizes ordinary citizens whose extraordinary deeds are making a difference in their communities and beyond.

After receiving nearly 4,000 submissions from 75 countries, a Blue Ribbon Panel including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Jane Goodall, Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Franklin Graham, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson and George Lopez (to name a few) selected this year’s Top 10 CNN Heroes. Each honoree will receive a $25,000 award for his/her organization.

We encourage you to tune in to CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute on Thanksgiving night. For more information, please visit www.cnn.com/heroes.

Update: Hammond's commentary is now available here.

Thanks to everyone who nominated the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder for the Mashable Open Web Awards! During the nominations round, Mashable received over 43,000 verified nominations. They narrowed down this huge pool to the 10 most-nominated sites and services in each category.

Thanks to your efforts, we've passed the nomination process, and now you can vote for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder in the next round!

The first and final voting rounds will be held from November 19th till December 15th. You can use the web form below (or click "Read more") to vote for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder for the Open Web Awards! You can vote for one item per category per day, so vote often and tell your friends to do the same!

The Mashable Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories.

By Rich Eldred
Wickedlocal.com
Nov 17, 2008

BREWSTER - Wouldn’t it be nice to build the town a playground while sitting down at breakfast, munching a quick lunch or lounging in front of “Dr. Phil”?

Well, it’s a possibility provided you’re a healthy organic diner such as administrative assistant to the town administrator, Doreen Contrastano.

“I eat yogurt every single day, sometimes twice a day and mostly it is Stonyfield (Farms),” she recounted. “I also read everything I eat so one day I was looking at the top – Stonyfield – always has different programs, and this time you could get a playground for your town.”

The Stonyfield contest is in conjunction with KaBOOM! (a nonprofit) and the school or youth group that sends in the most specially marked yogurt tops (from 6-ounce or 32-ounce containers) can win a $50,000 grant toward construction of a playground. [More]

Learn more about the Stonyfield Farms grant opportunity.

We here at KaBOOM! love bloggers...especially these fantastic folks this week!

KaBOOM in Vancleave
Design. Build. Learn. Repeat.
Nov. 7, 2008
"After working with KaBOOM! on a shade structure in North Gulfport, I was asked to lead another tile project in Vancleave, MS, a mostly rural community about 30 minutes east and north of Biloxi. This KaBOOM! build was scheduled for October 25th, “Make A Difference Day”, and Hands On wanted to help out by using painted tiles to beautify part of the park."

EL#4: KaBoom
Banana Smoothie Blog
Nov. 12, 2008
"So, I was looking through a dessert book that had brownies with special Christmas tins that you could get them shipped and gift wrapped in, and there was an insert within the magazine that had an ad for a nonprofit organization called KaBoom. Who would have thought that a nonprofit organization would be in a brownie magazine? The magazine is called Cheryl & Co. I don’t know if any of your have heard of them or not, but their brownies are delicious!"

Support the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!
ChangeWire
Nov. 13, 2008
"Help our ServiceNation partners at KaBOOM! win recognition for their great playspace finder."

Places to Play
CityMommy
Nov. 12, 2008
"As a mom, I do my best to make sure my kids play outside every day. They’re better behaved, better able to focus, and just generally happier, all of which make my life easier. So when the kids are bored with our neighborhood playgrounds, or when we’re visiting relatives, I go online to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder to see what playgrounds are in the area."

By Jason Pesick
Inland Valley (Calif.) Daily Bulletin
Nov. 12, 2008

The three-month old SOAR Charter Academy in San Bernardino got a brand-new playground with ideas from the kids themselves, thanks to California Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge Dealers and KaBOOM!

Exuberant smiles and faces thanked volunteers in song for their efforts in building the new playground -- which, planned with input from the kids themselves, included three slides, a play web and a mural designed by SOAR students and their parents.

The daylong effort began Wednesday at 8 a.m. as more than 250 volunteers were dispersed to help put the new playground together, which replaced 50-year-old existing play equipment built by a previous school, which had rented the building prior to SOAR's opening earlier this year. [More]

By Anne Ruisi
Birmingham News
Nov. 12, 2008

More than 200 volunteers are expected at Glen Iris Elementary School on Friday to build a deluxe playground in one day.

A horizontal loop ladder, a 360-degree spiral slide and a spiral climber, which is like a rock climbing wall, will be among the stations that will make up the KaBoom! playground, said Mike Vietti, a KaBoom! spokesman.

KaBoom! is a national nonprofit organization that helps communities build colorful playgrounds across the country. The play spaces are innovative and are designed by children. [More]

By Barbara Smith
ABC 4 News – Salt Lake City
Nov. 6, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A flurry of activity in a Glendale Park today will lead to many happy hours for children in the community.

Team Depot, comprised of workers from Home Depot stores across the valley worked at a feverish pitch to build a playground, where there was none, in a matter of hours.

Hundreds of volunteers used their regularly scheduled days off to create mulch, pound nails, and assemble slides. The materials were donated through the KaBOOM Organization ( www.kaboom.org) , which has a goal of creating a playground within walking distance of every child in the United States. [More]

See the video

The Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP is a new program designed to recognize NFL players who are making a positive impact in their local communities through charitable programs and contributions.

The Neighborhood MVP program will reward 17 players, one for each week of the regular season, with a football field refurbishment or a playground build in their honor and a donation to the charity of their choice. Each player will work with representatives from KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit whose vision is to create a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America, and volunteers from The Home Depot and the local community to complete the field refurbishment or playground build projects. Learn more about this program and vote for The Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP! [More]

One side effect to being a Playful City USA community is great press coverage! Two more Playful City USA communities have made the news recently:

Kids, adults throw some time away at new Wapello disc golf course

New Lenox park district hosts Day of Play

Linda Florea
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
Nov. 3, 2008

More than 250 volunteers from Central Florida Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers, Chrysler LLC, the Chrysler Foundation and Chrysler Financial and elsewhere pitched in recently with help from a national nonprofit group called KaBoom! to build a playground for children at a Devereux Florida facility in Orlando.

The new playground was fully assembled from scratch in less than eight hours for Orlando-based Devereux, which provides mental-health services to children across Florida. [More]

By John Kiesewetter
Cincinnati Enquirer
Nov. 3, 2008

See Rev. Run. See Run build.

Those who come Friday to Glory Lake - the former Lake Gloria in Colerain Township - will see Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons from MTV's "Run's House" help build a playground.

"We're really excited about having him come," says Shelly Madison Allen, project coordinator for New Commandment Christian Fellowship Church in Norwood. [More]

School Library Journal
Oct. 29, 2008

It's not all about work—sometimes it's about play. Organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm is teaming with the nonprofit organization KaBOOM! to bring play back into the lives of children.

As part of the Stonyfield KaBOOM! Double Play Program, a winner will receive a $50,000 grant to build or improve a playground, skate park, basketball court, sports field, or other type of playspace. The winner will then help select a second $50,000 grant recipient from a list of KaBOOM! applicants, based on its financial need. [More]

Learn more about the KaBOOM!-Stonyfield Farms grant program.

By Nanci G. Hutson
Danbury (Conn.) News-Times
Oct. 28, 2008

NEW MILFORD -- Michelle Sanford and Michelle Johnson want neighbors, friends and residents to eat a lot of yogurt between now and Dec. 20.

Not only will it be a healthful addition to their diet, but it could help them build a replacement for the town's Creative Playground. The wooden playscape is considered unsafe and will soon be dismantled.

Stonyfield Farm is offering the school-based organization or youth group that collects the most of the specially marked lids on its 6-ounce and 32-ounce organic yogurt a $50,000 grant to build a volunteer-organized playscape. [More]

Learn more about the Stonyfield Farm-KaBOOM! grant opportunity.

 

More love for the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder in the blogosphere! Thanks to everyone who has written about our cool new toy.

PlayspaceFinder.Kaboom.org - Find Playspaces Near You
Killer Startups
As its name evidences, this is a web-based service that makes it easy for you to find a playspace where the little ones could while away some hours.

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The KaBOOM! Playspace Finder
Arlington Kids
Here are some of the new features you’re going to love on the new KaBOOM! Playspace Finder...

Out On the Town
Electronic Ephemera
KaBoom! PlaySpace Finder - Where families can look for play spaces for their kids in their community.

KaBOOM! "Playspace Finder" - Great New Service and Widget
INfluence
Our friends at KaBOOM! have launched a new version of their "Playspace Finder" service -- a very cool map-based database to catalogue playspaces for kids.

Also thanks to the great folks on Twitter who have linked to the resource:
@TechRSS
@killerstartups
@markbriggs
@billjohnston
@BryanPerson
@waderockett
@jfinlayson
@dwitzel
@kvoelker
@amandasnook
@chrisbrogan

Chris Brogan, AKA one of the coolest people on Earth, just wrote a review of the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder for Mashable.com, a blog highlighting all that’s new and cool in social networks and social media websites.

Here's a snippet:

KaBoom! PlaySpace Finder is a site where families can look for play spaces for their kids in their community. It features a Google Maps mashup, the ability to upload photos of the place, a comments section, and an amenities section to tell parents and kids what kinds of structures and toys they might expect upon arriving.

Go check it out!

Community, business volunteers build school playground
By Ashley Northington
Shreveport Times
Oct. 23, 2008

The DJ blared music through speakers under a tent while about 280 volunteers put finishing touches on Central Park Elementary School's new playground.

The volunteers — from Landers Dodge Chrysler Jeep, The Chrysler Foundation, Chrysler Financial, Central Park Elementary, organizers from KaBOOM!, Barksdale Air Force Base, members of the Caddo Magnet High School Key Club and community members — assembled the playground within eight hours Wednesday.

The playground's design, which features playground equipment, an outdoor classroom that can double as an amphitheater, pavilion, shade structures and park benches among other structures, is based on drawings provided by students who attended a Design Day event in August. [More]

Video from the build

Photo gallery

There's a great KaBOOM! Playspace Finder shout-out in this article - check it out!

How to Get Your Child Active   
checkMD

On average, today’s kids play over an hour of video games and watch approximately three hours of television every single day of the week, not to mention computer and Internet time. So where do they find time to exercise and be active?

Unfortunately they don’t, which has led to nearly 1 in 3 kids being obese. Not overweight or a little pudgy, but OBESE.
 
With the increased proliferation of activities that are sedentary, many studies and experts have called childhood obesity an epidemic. So how can we get kids active, moving and healthy again? [More]

By Nakia Hogan
New Orleans Times-Picayune

Brandon Tosti had forgotten about New Orleans.

He thought everything was OK. He figured because the NFL was back, and New Orleans was getting ready to host the NBA All-Star Game, that much of the city had returned to normal.

He was like many other Americans. He was wrong.

But all that changed one day last September while he was reading a magazine at his home in Denver. That's when he learned the truth.

It was the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and New Orleans and the Gulf South were still struggling in the aftermath of the deadly storm. Youth sports leagues had crumbled. Playground equipment remained mangled. School yards were almost unplayable. [More]

Yorkville honored as a good place for kids

St. Pete's Baker Named Mayor Of Year By Magazine

Rascal Flatts Getting Dirty
Country Music Tattle Tale
Thank you so much to Country Music is Love for sending us this link.  It has some great pictures of Rascal Flatts getting down and dirty and building the Kaboom playground in Alabama.  There is also an interview with the guys.  Check it out there are a ton of pictures.

Rascal Flatts helps build playground
NashvilleGab
Rascal Flatts, with the help of the Home Depot, helped to build a playground in Birmingham, Alabama yesterday at the Princeton Alternative Elementary School. 

By Suzanne Ashe
Salt Lake City Tribune
Oct. 16, 2008

The air filled with clouds of sawdust and the sounds of top 1980s tunes as 200 volunteers hammered, sawed and drilled pieces of wood for benches, scoreboards and a new dugout at the Kearns National Pony League Baseball Field recently.

In one corner of the field, located at 4865 S. 4300 W., a large candy-colored playground began to take shape. The 4,000-square-foot playground, featuring a Crazy Bones Bridge, a Slither Slide a horizontal loop ladder and a 360-degree spiral slide, looked like a level from a video game - life size. [More]

Bradenton Blog
Oct. 15, 2008

On September 11, 2008, close to 250 people came out to Norma Lloyd Park to help build a playground. The equipment was provided by Kaboom! and the Home Depot Foundation. Local Home Depot Stores provided well over 100 volunteers for the build. [More]

Oct 14, 2008
Kansas City Chiefs.com

Make no mistake about it, Kansas City Chiefs LB Derrick Johnson loves making his mark. On the field, he cruises from sideline-to-sideline nearly salivating at the opportunity to crush the ball carrier. Typically he meets the opposition with such ferocity that the only audible noise is a high-pitched screech that resembles a “KaBOOM!” Ironically enough, Johnson and his King of the Field Foundation are well adept at the term “KaBOOM!” off of the field as well. For the third-straight year, DJ joined with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, KaBOOM! and the United Way to build a revamped playground at Operation Breakthrough. [More]

By Cindy Adkins
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Oct. 16, 2008

Saints running back Reggie Bush recently helped break ground at a new play area built in Violet by KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that is constructing more than 200 playgrounds this year across the country.

On Sept. 30, Bush helped build a new tot lot at Trinity Learning Academy, a daycare founded 17 years ago by Yvonne Robinson and her daughters, Clarvette Johnson and Darleen Smith.

"I love giving back, especially to children," said Bush, who also was joined by more than 35 Marines, sailors and soldiers from the Naval Support Activity and the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse. [More]

ANNE RUISI
Birmingham News
Oct. 16, 2008

They may not have listened to country music before Rascal Flatts chose their school as the site of a $40,000 deluxe playground, but now the children and staff at Princeton Alternative Elementary are their biggest fans.

On Wednesday, the Grammy Award-winning group spent the day at the West End school helping more than 150 volunteers from Home Depot and the community build a KaBoom! playground.

The country hitmakers - Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney - got their hands dirty by shoveling mulch, helping paint a mural and doing other tasks necessary to build the playground in one day. [More]

See also:

Rascal Flatts To Build Children's Playground
Hollyscoop.com
Rascal Flatts is taking time out of their busy schedule to build a playground for children in Alabama. The country trio won the Academy of Country Music Home Depot Humanitarian Award, giving them the opportunity to build a playground in their city of choice.

Learn more about The Home Depot's partnership with KaBOOM!.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Oct. 16, 2008

Company: Fairytale Brownies, a Phoenix business that has 40 employees year-round and about three times that number during the holiday season.

How it gives: The company supports Kaboom, a Washington charity that builds playgrounds in neighborhoods nationwide. Fairytale Brownies donates 25 cents for every "Happy Birthday" or other special-occasion message it sells. It also donates gift bags to Kaboom that the charity hands out to volunteers and corporate sponsors. Last year, Fairytale Brownies added a page to its Web site that allows customers to donate a dollar to Kaboom when they make a purchase.

Stonyfield Teams with KaBOOM! to Fund Play Spaces for Two Communities
Fundraising and Grants Blog
Organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm is teaming with KaBOOM!, the national nonprofit dedicated to bringing play back to the lives of children, to provide much-needed places to play for two deserving schools or youth organizations.
 
Stonyfield Teams with KaBOOM! to Fund Play Spaces for Two Communities
Arizona Afterschool Blog
Organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm is teaming with KaBOOM!, the national nonprofit dedicated to bringing play back to the lives of children, to provide much-needed places to play for two deserving schools or youth organizations.

Learn more about the KaBOOM! and Stonyfield Farms partnership.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
BYLINE: Andrea Iglar
Oct. 9, 2008

North Fayette children can get ready to climb, crawl, swing, slide and generally jump around on a new, state-of-the-art playground set to open in the spring.

More than 100 people helped build a sprawling, bright red playing apparatus last weekend in the community park that is under construction next to Donaldson Elementary School on Donaldson Road.

About 130 women, men and children, including volunteers from sports organizations, church groups, local companies, West Allegheny schools and the township parks and recreation board, helped assemble and erect 221 pieces of equipment. Senior citizens served refreshments. [More]

Learn to build a playground with our online Roadmap and Toolkit!

Serving in Love
Oct. 13, 2008

Your SIL Team worked with hundreds of other volunteers in the Kokomo area to build a KABOOM playground at Waterworks Park this Saturday…that’s right...in one day (actually part of a day)…we put up a complete playground.

Showing God’s Love in a Practical Way!!!!

This playground will serve children in the Waterworks area. [More]

By Melinda Skutnick
Mooresville (N.C.) Tribune
Oct. 10, 2008

Afternoon raindrops didn't stop the nearly 200 volunteers from shoveling mulch, tightening bolts and putting the finishing touches on Pine Lake Prep's new playground – a school and community play space donated earlier this year by one of Mooresville's own.

PLP's "Build Day" – held Wednesday in partnership with Home Depot's "Team Depot" and the non-profit organization KaBOOM! – kicked off at 9 a.m. and brought together parents, students, school officials, KaBOOM! representatives, members of NASCAR teams and other volunteers to construct the blue, yellow and green playground; a long-awaited addition to the charter school's new campus.

"I think it's going to be awesome," said third grader Deirdre Taylor who caught a brief glimpse of the playground's construction Wednesday morning. [More]

See also:
Volunteers build new playground for Pine Lake Prep
Davidsonnews.net

Learn more about The Home Depot's partnership with KaBOOM!

Miami children drew their ideal playground for design consideration in a new playground for Little River Park.
BY KIRSTIN MAGUIRE
Miami Herald

For 7-year-old Anthony Pierre, an ideal playground not only includes swings, water slides and monkey bars, but a pet monkey, too.

He, along with about 25 other young designers from the Miami-Dade Parks after-school program, put their imaginations to the test Tuesday when they submitted drawings for a new playground at Little River Park, 10525 NW 24th Ave.

Home Depot and the nonprofit community organization KaBOOM! hosted the children's design day to brainstorm what Little River Park's new playground should look like. [More]

Learn how to host a Design Day!

24 Hour Fitness, KaBoom! launch Houston playground project
Houston Business Journal
24 Hour Fitness and KaBoom!, a national nonprofit organization focused on children, have launched a program to build new playgrounds in Houston communities impacted by Hurricane Ike. During October, 24 Hour Fitness has pledged to donate $1 from the monthly dues of Houston-area members to KaBoom! to help build the playgrounds. Members of the fitness club are also being invited to donate through an in-club fundraising campaign, with all proceeds going to KaBoom!

24 Hour Fitness, KaBoom! launch Houston playground project
Commercial Fitness Today
During October, 24 Hour Fitness has pledged to donate $1 from the monthly dues of Houston-area members to KaBoom! to help build the playgrounds. Members of the fitness club are also being invited to donate through an in-club fundraising campaign, with all proceeds going to KaBoom!

24 Hour Fitness and KaBOOM! Team up to Build Playgrounds for Houston Children
Fitness Industry News
24 Hour Fitness®, the largest privately-owned U.S. fitness chain and a health club industry pioneer, and KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of children, are teaming up to build new playgrounds in Houston communities impacted by Hurricane Ike.

Help get Houston playgrounds fixed after Ike
Houston Strategies Blog
Just a quick pass-along from a nonprofit doing good work in Houston after Ike: KaBOOM!, a national non-profit dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of children, is currently focused on the areas impacted by Hurricane Ike. KaBOOM! is asking area residents to load pictures of damaged playgrounds onto the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder, so that they can match playgrounds in need with volunteers and resources to help repair them. If you know of a great place to play that needs attention share it with others.

Learn more about the partnership.

Awesome video from Norfolk playground build posted on YouTube

Dothan community comes together build playground

Coolidge named 'Playful City'

Play's the thing (Henderson)

Nampa hosts ‘Play Day,’ plans activities

Learn more about Playful City USA!

Eat for a good cause!
CARRIE vs. D.C.
I wanted to tell you about a fun new way to help bring a new place to play to your community while also enjoying yummy organic yogurt! KaBOOM! is teaming up with organic yogurt-maker Stonyfield Farm to create two new community-built playspaces!

by Amanda M. Straub
Nation’s Cities Weekly

In preparation for the playground build, which will take place on Friday, November, 15 during NLC’s Congress of Cities in Orlando, Fla., KaBOOM! and the City of Orlando held a design day at the Dr. James R. Smith Neighborhood Center in Orlando on September 17.

KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit dedicated to bringing play back into children’s lives. NLC and KaBOOM! are partnering on a series of playground builds, including one in New Orleans at last year’s Congress of Cities where nearly 400 conference delegates helped build a new play facility at Joe Brown Park. [More]

Learn how to hold a Design Day.

Thanks again to the awesome bloggers who keep writing about KaBOOM! and the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder!

KaBOOM!
henry's treehouse
KaBoom! Have you heard of this organization? If not, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with them. KaBoom's tagline is "it's starts with a playground." Simple, sweet, and packed with much more than one might think.

Playgrounds
MyESPN
"But really, I think the most important thing for you to read is this nice story about Antawn Jamison building a playground in Louisiana."

Find a playground in your neighborhood
Southern Living
"Last week, I mentioned Kaboom's efforts to build playgrounds across America (see "Child's Play: Hands-On Hurricane Recovery by Building Playgrounds"). I met Annie Lynsen, a manager at the Washington-based nonprofit, at a convention over the weekend."

The whole world is playing today
Successful Blog
"That’s right! Today is the day to get serious about playing. Yeah, I didn’t know either until I met up with Annie from KaBOOM! She let me in on the news that today is the Worldwide Day of Play. Here’s the news about it."

Worldwide day of play
m hearts nyc
"Much like with International Crochet Day a couple weeks ago, I didn't know this was going on until I stumbled across it in my usual RSS feed (Liz writes great social media stuff). Anyway, I read it AFTER I had, in fact, come home from playing. LITERALLY."

Stonyfield Farm/Kaboom Playground Grant
Peaceful Playgrounds
"Kaboom and Stonyfield Farm have joined up to offer a grant for $50,000 toward a volunteer-built playspace. Schools collect lids to specially-marked yogurt containers for Stonyfield Farm yogurt between now and December 31, 2008. The group that sends in the most lids wins."

Volunteers turn school's perimeter into a garden
By LAITH AGHA
Monterey County (Calif.) Herald
Sept. 26, 2008

Armed with shovels and rakes, the chain gang of parents and Home Depot employees walked away from the pizza boxes Thursday toward a eucalyptus that shades part of Bay View Elementary School.

Lunch break was over. It was time to get back to moving dirt.

This wasn't forced labor or a sign of a successful student coup at the New Monterey school. Rather, this was the scene of a beautification project undertaken by about 60 Bay View parents and off-the-clock Home Depot employees volunteering to transform some shabby portions of the school's perimeter into a garden area.

"It was just shrubs," Carrie Pierce, school PTA president, said of one section along Prescott Avenue. "We would sit outside after school and fantasize about what could be done."

With the help of a $2,000 grant from KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that funds thousands of playground makeover projects nationwide, that fantasy has become a reality. [More]

Learn about other grant opportunities with KaBOOM!.

BY DEBORAH ACOSTA
Miami Herald
Sept. 28, 2008

With 175 volunteers, lots of water and a gracious donor, a playground sprang up in Miami in one day.

The volunteers gathered at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 20 at the Miami Children's Museum, and by 2 p.m., the children of South Florida had one more play space to call their own.

''When they say built in a day, they mean built in a day,'' said Lisa Pliner, who, with her husband Donald J. Pliner, funded 90 percent of the $150,000 project. The couple made the project happen in conjunction with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that has built playgrounds in various cities throughout the United States since 1995. The Miami Children's Museum helped fund the rest.

''It's an incredible feeling to know your hands built something that will give children happiness and peace,'' Lisa Pliner said. [More]

Mississippi Deserves Its Moment In the Sun
By Ellen Ratner
The Fox Forum
Sept. 26, 2008

The post-Katrina center that I helped start is named after the Governor Haley Barbour’s wife, Marsha Barbour, who worked hard delivering supplies to all kinds of neighborhoods after the storm. The Marsha Barbour Center had over three hundred people working to build a Kaboom playground. It was the most integrated group you could possibly imagine– black, white, young, old, men, women, Democrats and Republicans. Most of us would be hard pressed to find such a group in Boston or New York City. [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! efforts in the Gulf Coast.

New Lenox stays playful

St. Petersburg named 'One of the Best Communities for Young People'

St. Pete Receives Playground Grant, Youth Accolades

Want to see the whole list of 2008 Playful City USA communities? You can find it here - along with links to e-cards where you can post your congratulations! The e-cards for Brentwood, Calif.; Creedmoor, N.C.; Grand Prairie, Texas; Ankeny, Iowa and Findlay, Ohio currently have the most comments.

By Raul Barreneche
Interior Design Magazine
Sept. 1, 2008

You may think you know David Rockwell. The founder of the New York firm Rockwell Group has made a name designing memorably theatrical restaurants and hotels such as Nobu and the W chain, as well as actual stage sets for Hairspray, Legally Blond, and other Broadway productions. But you probably didn't know that Rockwell has designed portable playgrounds, soon to hit hundreds of schoolyards all over the country. Or that he developed an in-house digital software lab. Here, the gregarious Rockwell-who will receive a National Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum next month-talks about what kids do best, stretching technological limits, and keeping one's curiosity in shape.

Tell us about the playgrounds you've designed.

Our concept, called Imagination Playground, is based on the idea of free play. It includes loose polyethylene foam elements that are like big building blocks, letting kids do what kids do best: construct their own world, break it down, start over. There's also a portable version consisting of 150 pieces in two crates. We're partnering with the advocacy group Kaboom! In the next couple of years, they hope to provide Imagination Playgrounds to about 500 schools and communities across the country. The first I.P. is going up next summer at Burling Slip, near the South Street Seaport, while Kaboom! funded the first portable I.P., in Brooklyn...

Learn more about Imagination Playground.

By Daveen Rae Kurutz
Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sept. 25, 2008

A park once covered with graffiti will get a new life.

The Ross Department of Parks and Recreation is looking for volunteers to take part in a "community build" at Maple Park next month to construct a play area. Located on the outskirts of the township just north of Bellevue, Maple Park has been renovated and rebuilt in recent years.

"It was in pretty bad shape with a lot of graffiti and garbage," said Pete Geis, director of Parks and Recreation. "Dave (Mikec) got a cleanup crew of about 20 local residents together and they cleaned up the park. They were really interested in what happened to it."

...

The township received a $10,000 grant from the private nonprofit group KaBOOM, which is offered specifically for community playspaces and requires a volunteer aspect to the community build, Geis said. [More]

The importance of play
By Darell Hammond
CEO, KaBOOM!
Sept. 26, 2008

If I were to list the names of all the individuals who’ve told me that I have the best job in the world, I could fill a book. What do I do, you ask? I build playgrounds.

In 1995, I founded KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit that empowers communities across the nation to build great places to play. We work to provide play spaces for children because we understand the great impact that play can have on a child’s life.

Play is on the decline in America. While this statement may not at first seem alarming, it reflects a very negative trend in childhood development. [More]

You’d think that after building another playground that I’d be completely tired and wiped out of all my energy! Actually, I’m not doing too badly at all. I had a fantastic weekend building the playground for the Park Southern Community in Washington, D.C.! I feel very fortunate to again have been involved with a great project, a wonderful neighborhood and amazing volunteers.

I have to admit, when I first walked up and saw the huge mountain of mulch (about three times larger than the one at our Shreveport build two weeks earlier) that I wondered if we’d actually make it though the build! I just had to pace myself and help put together different pieces of the playground first and really save my strength for the mulch move. Not only was the mulch pile larger than life, it was also at the top of a very steep hill! OK, I’m finished with talking about the mulch… at least until my next build!

I’ve got to send out some serious thanks to KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID for making this project possible and inviting me to be a part of it. The build was special for many reasons. For one, it was one of the five builds going on that day that let KaBOOM! move past their 1,500th build! I want to congratulate them on that feat. They are truly providing hope and inspiration to so many kids and communities by providing these wonderful playgrounds. I hope I can one day say that I’ve been a part of another 1,500 builds with them!

The build was also special because it was the first time I’d worked with KOOL-AID and hung out with the KOOL-AID Man! KOOL-AID not only made such a huge impact with their financial and marketing contributions, but also through the excitement they provided with their name and having their famous KOOL-AID Man being on site (I think he signed more autographs than me)! Just want to say thanks again to both KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! for allowing me to help them make a difference!

Well, I’m starting training camp at the end of the week and have already begun working out with my Washington Wizards team. I think that we have a good chance of making some noise in the NBA this year so don’t forget to stay tuned and cheer for us! It’s back to business but you can expect to hear from me again when my season is done and I’m able to get back to building playgrounds!

-Antawn

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

See photos from the build.

Read more about the build:

Wizards’ Jamison organizes hundreds to build playground

Washington Wizard Antawn Jamison helps build playground

Antawn Jamison, Kool-Aid and KaBOOM! build playground in Southeast D.C.

Jamison plays on

NBA.com story

NBA.com photo gallery

City celebrates designation as 'Playful City U.S.A.' on Saturday (Nampa)

Skaters flipping about new park (Palm Bay)

The City of Atlanta Wins its Second Playful City USA Award

City shows its 'Playful' side (Grand Prairie)

Palm Bay named Playful City

Want to play? Come to Irvine

Fine time for playtime in Greenbelt

Want to see the whole list of 2008 Playful City USA communities? You can find it here - along with links to e-cards where you can post your congratulations! The e-cards for Brentwood, Calif.; Creedmoor, N.C.; Grand Prairie, Texas; Ankeny, Iowa and Findlay, Ohio currently have the most comments.

The new KaBOOM! Playspace Finder is making waves in both print media and the blogosphere! Check it out!

Chicago Tribune

Dad-o-Matic

Something Epic

Get Real Mom

3 Virginia cities cited for encouraging play

Canton recognized for parks services

Gilbert earns 'Playful' praise

DeRidder named 'Playful City USA'

Is your city playful?

Springdale is among playful cities

City recognized for play initiatives (Riverside)

Thumbs Up and Down (Neenah)

Landfall / This tiny town knows how to play

NBA All-Star builds playground in Bossier City
Shreveport Times

NBA Player Helps Build Playground
KTBS News

Podcast with Antawn Jamison
Shreveport.com

View photos from the build!

Meetings Industry Megasite
August 13, 2007

In 2000, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) held its annual meeting in Orlando and decided, for the first time, to organize a volunteer event through which its members could give something back to the community that was hosting them. To that end, the Rosemont, IL-based association teamed up with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington D.C., whose mission "envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America." With the help of KaBOOM!, the AAOS was able to identify a disadvantaged neighborhood in the Orlando area that needed a playground and organize a day during the annual meeting when AAOS members could go out into the community and build one. [More]

Learn more about our funding partners.

By Greg Toppo
USA TODAY
Aug. 26, 2008

Excerpt:

On Aug. 29, 2005, Katrina leveled or damaged most of New Orleans' schools and scattered students and teachers across the country. By then, decades of poor performance had prompted state officials to sweep its worst schools into something called the Recovery School District, or RSD. Last year, they tapped Vallas, 55, to kick the effort into overdrive.

He now presides over 34 traditional schools and another 33 independently run but publicly financed charter schools — a system about as large as the Olathe, Kan., district — with a weakened teachers' union, no local school board or bureaucracy and unprecedented funding. State and federal aid provide about $16,000 a pupil, nearly twice what most districts spend.

Charitable donations add to his bottom line. For instance, the non-profit Kaboom has built state-of-the-art playgrounds at 27 schools at no expense to the city. And state officials announced a $685 million plan last week, paid for mostly by FEMA, to rebuild the city's school buildings within five years. [More]

Learn about Operation Playground.

By Adolfo Flores
Los Angeles Daily News
Aug. 23, 2008

ARLETA - When kids at the Child Care Resource Center's Arleta Head Start preschool were asked what they wanted in their new playground, one of them said a Nintendo game.

It was a testament, said CCRC spokeswoman Stacy Miller, to the fact that children today spend more time at home in front of TV and less actively playing.

In one local effort to help kids get more active, more than 300 volunteers arrived at the Arleta preschool Saturday to build a 3,300-square-foot playground. [More]

Learn how to build a playground in your community with our Toolkit!

By Harry Minium
The Virginian-Pilot
Aug. 22, 2008

They came by the hundreds from across Hampton Roads to deliver a message to the criminals who for too long have ruled the streets of Denby Park: This will again be a safe place for kids to play.

More than 400 volunteers spent less than six hours Thursday building a playground, the first in this troubled Wards Corner neighborhood.

The new play area, once a vacant lot next to an apartment complex, is now replete with slides, a tire swing, rock climbing areas and benches.

"Shots have been fired at the houses across the street," said Bud Blanchard, 85, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1949. "People were crouched down in the houses to avoid the shooting."

Blanchard said he pleaded with city officials to rid the neighborhood of drugs before building the playground. He said they told him that the playground, combined with increased policing, will help drive crime away. [More]

Morgan Clendaniel
GOOD Magazine

Lower Manhattan, already a playground for New York’s wealthy, is fast becoming the epicenter of playground innovation. In addition to the Teardrop Park, the tip of the island will soon be home to the Imagination Playground, a new play space designed, pro bono, by David Rockwell, the architect behind über-casino Mohegan Sun and the sets for the Broadway run of Hairspray. He conceived of the idea as a way to give back to the area after 9/11.

Being bowled over by his children’s ability to find endless enjoyment in a cardboard box, Rockwell began to realize that he could design a playground that emphasized the imaginative power of young children, instead of just doing a slick architect’s take on the kind of formulaic playgrounds so prevalent in the rest of the country. [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! and Imagination Playground.

Former Run-DMC front-man to lead playground crusade
By CHRISTOPHER QUINN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Aug. 14, 2008

Joseph Simmons, the ground-breaking rapper whose revival of the song “Walk this Way” gave it a second life on the hit charts, is preaching the same message in a new form.

He is telling people walk this way, a good way, a better way.

Simmons, better known as the lead personality Rev. Run on MTV’s reality show “Run’s House,” and better known to the parents of MTV’s target audience as one of the founding members of 1980s rap group Run-D.M.C., will be in Atlanta Aug. 21 to help the nonprofit KaBoom kick off a project to build four Atlanta playgrounds in three days. [More]

Read Rev Run's blog on the KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! partnership page.

The portable play area — an offshoot of the permanent Imagination Playground concept that is scheduled to break ground later this month — was installed in partnership with Kaboom, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting play space.

The design includes a variety of loose pieces to promote flexibility and allow children to use their imagination to design the play area. Children can transform the playground to suit their needs, as was the case at the introduction ceremony when a water feature incorporated into the play area was manipulated with a series of connected tubes.

Darell Hammond, chief executive officer at Kaboom, spoke with School Construction News during a phone interview. [More]

Accompanying article: Spotlight July/August 2008 - N.Y. Architect, Kaboom Introduce New Playground Concept

Learn more about Imagination Playground.

Volunteers work on 'labour of love and healing' this week
BY MIKE ADLER
The Mirror
Aug. 11, 2008

Volunteers building a playground in Malvern this week seek a way to deal with a tragedy in their midst as well as create a vital place for the community's children.

Hundreds of people from the neighbourhood and beyond are expected to help Wilcox Creek Housing Co-operative construct a new playground Thursday.

They will dedicate it to Michael George, shot as he got out of his car in the co-op's driveway in the early hours of June 29, 2007. [More]

andDESIGN Blog
Aug. 6, 2008

Both David Rockwell and Frank Gehry are designing playgrounds for New York City. Playground design moves the typical design of an environment to more of a design of an experience.

Frank Gehry is one of the world's most influential architects famous for his metal-clad buildings like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. He will be designing a playground for Battery Park in New York City.

David Rockwell, the founder and CEO of Rockwell Group, a Manhattan-based architectural firm, is best known for his work designing theaters, such as the Kodak in Los Angeles (home to the Oscars); high-end restaurants, such as the various Nobus around the world; and Broadway stage sets, including those for "Hairspray," "Legally Blonde" and the coming "Catch Me if You Can." Now the designer of grown-up amusements is focusing on child's play and children's playgrounds. [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! and Imagination Playground.

David Rockwell Keeps to Playground Design Plans
Aug. 6, 2008

An interesting piece from the Wall Street Journal about an alteration of career plans for famous theatrical/building designer, David Rockwell. Known for his work building backdrops for big name Broadway shows and even serving as the lead architect for the theaters themselves (he designed and built the Kodak Theater in LA), he's recently decided that he's still very into the playground designing market (for kids, specifically), the first of which should be completed sometime within the next year in NY. All this in the name of making urban life a little more kid-friendly and kid-encouraging. [More]

Learn more about Imagination Playground and KaBOOM!.

By Alan Schnepf
San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE
Aug. 2, 2008

LAKESIDE – There's more than strength in numbers. There's also speed.

About 250 people in Lakeside proved that Thursday when they built the city's newest playground in less than a day.

The group showed up at Lindo Park Elementary School on Thursday morning to build the 3,400-square-foot playground and finished it the same afternoon.

Among the volunteers was Damon Johnson, a produce clerk at an Albertsons in Vista. Johnson had the day off and decided to help. He brought along his wife and son, who will soon be leaving for college.

“It's about going out and doing something physical,” Johnson said. “I can go out and donate money, but this? I'm a part of it, a part of the blood, sweat and tears.” [Read more] [Photo slideshow]

Learn how you can build a playground in a day with our Roadmap!

By DAN ACKMAN
Wall Street Journal
Aug. 5, 2008

David Rockwell, the founder of CEO of Rockwell Group, a Manhattan-based architectural firm, is best known for his work designing theaters, such as the Kodak in Los Angeles (home to the Oscars); high-end restaurants, such as the various Nobus around the world; and Broadway stage sets, including those for "Hairspray," "Legally Blonde" and the coming "Catch Me if You Can." Now the designer of grown-up amusements is focusing on child's play and children's playgrounds. [More]

Learn more about Imagination Playground.

Don't forget to enter the KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes before Friday to win a trip to a playground ribbon-cutting with Reverend Run!

By Andrew Edwards
San Bernadino County Sun
July 30, 2008

SAN BERNARDINO - About 350 volunteers and a heck of a lot of concrete and wood shavings came together Wednesday, and the result was a brand-new playground on the city's Westside.

Kids who venture into the caterpillar-esque tube can climb right out of the thing, head to the slide and make their way down to a soft landing on the wood shavings strewn about the new playground.

But not just yet. [More]

Where can you find equipment for your playground project? Search our Vendor Directory.

By Genea Webb
Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW
July 31, 2008

Clairton resident Mary Glover doesn't mind getting her hands dirty when it comes to rebuilding her beloved city.

When the Community Economic Development Corporation of Clairton partnered with the Junior League of Pittsburgh and KaBoom! to help build a playground for children on Clairton's south side, Glover knew she had to be involved.

She hopes other residents will show up to help build the playground from the ground up in one day: Sept. 20. Work starts at 8 a.m. [More]

Need volunteers? Learn how to recruit them here.

Help us find every playspace in America, good and bad... and win a trip to a playground ribbon-cutting with Reverend Run!

KaBOOM! and KOOL-AID are teaming up to make great play possible through the KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! Playspace Finder Sweepstakes!

Every new playground (with an uploaded picture) you add to the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder between Aug. 4 and Aug. 9 will enter you to win a trip for four to a playground ribbon-cutting with Reverend Run in Atlanta!

Learn about the sweepstakes!

Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! CEO and co-founder, will be discussing ways to promote fitness in a live, online forum at NewTalk.org on Tuesday, July 29.

You can check it out here!

Learn more about KaBOOM! efforts to combat childhood obesity.

By JON-MARC LARSON
Mississippi Press
July 26, 2008

GAUTIER -- More than 100 volunteers from the community gathered Friday to help assemble a playground next to the Boys and Girls Club.

Led by nonprofit organization KaBOOM!, volunteers worked from 8:30 until 2:30 p.m. erecting brightly colored pieces of equipment, pouring concrete and laying sod to give Gautier a safer, more entertaining spot for local children.

"We did not have anything like this when I was a kid, so it is great that our children here in Gautier will have something like this here," Gautier Mayor Pete Pope said. "We are especially thankful to all of the organizers and volunteers who helped make this day possible for the city of Gautier." [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! efforts in the Gulf Coast.

A New Playground Lifts Spirits at Harvey Hall in Arlington
By Susan Straight
The Washington Post 
July 26, 2008

Harvey Hall's old playground was such a hazard that children were not allowed to play there.

"It was small and dirty," said Napatsorn Butthep, 11.

But now the six-story brick apartment building just north of Columbia Pike and east of Carlin Springs Road in Arlington has a new playground, thanks to local contributions of money, labor and expertise. [More]

Learn how you can build or renovate a playground in your neighborhood.

Shreveport native is one of NBA's most giving
By Jason Pugh
Shreveport Times 
July 23, 2008

Ditto for his community service resume, something that will grow with respect to Shreveport in the next month.

Jamison, a Shreveport native and two-time NBA All-Star, was in Bossier City on Tuesday to announce the building of a KaBOOM playground on St. Charles Street in the Barksdale Annex neighborhood.

"I was in the All-Star Game this past year and we did a lot for the community of New Orleans," Jamison said. "The most important thing for me is giving back to kids. KaBOOM does a lot for the community and kids. I recall as a kid, just having the opportunity to have that one place where I could go and be a kid — just enjoy myself and play. I still have those memories. There's a lot of kids in dire need of that opportunity." [More]

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker.

KTBS
July 22, 2008

A professional athlete from Shreveport is giving back to his hometown.

Antawn Jamison is teaming up with Community Renewal International, Bellaire Baptist Church and Kaboom, to design a dream playground for children.

"For me, it's about giving back, putting smiles on kid's faces.  Let them know that I'm from the same situation you're from and that if you continue to work hard and dream, anything is possible," said Jamison. [More]

Learn more about Antawn Jamison, All-Star Playmaker!

Rockwell Group Takes It To The Playground
by Dave Pinter
July 21, 2008

Excerpt:

The play parts have already been field tested earlier this year at the East Village Community School. Rockwell is beginning to work with playground producer Kaboom on a portable version. He is intending to locate a portable version within each of the five boroughs. Kaboom is looking to expand the concept on a national scale. Those who have seen it including Cynthia J. Gentry, chairwoman of the Atlanta Taskforce on Play are already impressed. [More]

Learn more about Imagination Playground.

Gore's spirit could free U.S. from foreign oil
By Ellen Ratner
WorldNet Daily Exclusive Commentary

Excerpt:

If we can put 370 volunteers together on a very hot Saturday in July from very different backgrounds (rich, poor, black, white, young, old, military, civilian, very religious and not at all religious) then why can't we put the same community spirit together to save and produce energy? ... Former Vice President Al Gore is no more a wacko for his vision than is KaBoom! founder Darrell Hammond. [More]

Learn more about the KaBOOM! vision.

By Kyle Jones
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer
July 20, 2008

Watch Canton's video

The temperature is on the rise. Baseball games monopolize the TV channels. Outside, the air is warm and humid while burgers and hot dogs roast on the hot grill by the pool.

Everywhere in Cherokee County, summer is in full bloom. But for a Canton neighborhood, one of the season's most joyful trademarks has been incomplete for several years.

"In the summertime, kids love playing outside," said Sharon Jones, who lives near the city's Burge Park on Burge Street. "But around here, they have no place outside where they can play. That's why I think redoing the park is a smart thing to do." [More]

Learn more about Playful City USA.

By MATT HOLLIS
North Channel Sentinel (Texas)
July 17, 2008

The heat was intense, but that did not stop more than 250 volunteers from participating in the Wendel D. Ley YMCA/KaBoom! playground project, July 12.

“This says a lot for the community in Channelview,” said Ann Gaudard, KaBoom! Project manager. “T he North Shore community has never been one not to share its time, talents and treasures. Today, they shared all of those with us. It really will make a difference in these kids’ lives.”

KOOL-AID helped to fund the playground along with a $10,000 donation from the North Shore Rotary Club. [More]

Learn more about the KOOL-AID and KaBOOM! partnership.

Students get new place to play
Omaha World-Herald
July 17, 2008
More than 200 volunteers gathered at Jackson Elementary School, 31st and Jackson Streets, early this morning to help build a playground that will provide students a new and secure place to play. [More - including video]

Jackson Elementary Gets New Playground
KETV
July 17, 2008
Hundreds of volunteers turned out Thursday to make a fun place for some midtown Omaha children.

The Omaha Schools Foundation, the Kaboom Organization and employees of the Performance and Baxter Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership teamed up to build a playground at Jackson Elementary School. [More]

Learn more about the KaBOOM! community-build model.

The Land Of Pure Imagination
New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
July 14, 2008

The wise philosopher, Willy Wonka, once said, “There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination.” Now, with physical improvements to Brownsville Playground and the addition of the Rockwell Group’s mobile Imagination Playground in a BOX, children’s imaginations can expand all summer long. [More]

The Power of the "Imagination Playground"
A Creator's Guide
July 16, 2008
Well, high fives - and fist bumps - to architect David Rockwell, whose is applying his genius for creating spaces to a new venture called "Imagination Playground" - an collaborative initiative with urban playground king Kaboom to offer children (especially those in low-income neighborhoods) innovative, colorful playspaces to let their imaginations run wild. [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! and Imagination Playground.

Houston Press Blog
July 10, 2008

Rev. Joseph "Run" Simmons, one-third of legendary rap group Run-DMC and more recently starring as a man of the cloth and beleagured father of seven (in other words, himself) in the hit MTV reality series Run's House, visited Houston Wednesday with his wife, Justine, to help build a brand-new playground at the Candlelight Oak Civic Club in Northwest Houston. Tuesday's project is the second in the KOOL-AID/KaBOOM! initiative's partnership to build playgrounds in inner-city neighborhoods. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly - hundreds of volunteers scurrying around hauling dirt, mixing cement and hammering things while listening to, um George Strait - until the skies opened, but Simmons swore the project would be finished today, rain or shine. [More]

Learn more about KOOL-AID and KaBOOM!

BY AYALA FALK 
New York Daily News
July 15, 2008

Most surprises come in a box, and for the children in Brownsville, their summer surprise came in a giant one.

The Imagination Playground is a giant box filled with blocks, cones, sprinklers and sand - all the tools a youngster needs to build his or her own ideal playground.

"I'm building a castle, and tomorrow, I'm going to build a spaceship," said gleeful Remel Isil, 6, before he scampered off to join his friends at the Brownsville Recreation Center playground.

Inspired by his own children playing, David Rockwell, an award-winning architect, created a playground where children will not only get their dose of outdoor activity, but will also stretch their imaginations and hone their creativity.

"Kids have this innate instinct to collaborate and play," said Rockwell. Imagination Playground provides kids with "the raw ingredients for creativity," he explained.

Rockwell teamed with nationwide playground creator, KaBOOM! and the city Parks Department to bring the special playground to Brownsville for the summer. [More]

Learn more about Imagination Playground and KaBOOM!.

Dr. Kal's Weight Loss Blog featured the playground builds by KaBOOM! and CNN's Fit Nation on Friday. Here's an excerpt:

It is great what they did for the children of Metairie. It will help get these children more active and get them away from the video games, the television, and the Internet. Increased activity is one of the best strategies to prevent and cure childhood obesity.

The CNN Fit Nation team has inspired me. I am going to research KaBOOM! and try to get some playgrounds built in the Atlanta/Decatur area.

Check it out!

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
New York Times
July 14, 2008

It began as a six-foot-long robot named Simon. Then over the course of a few minutes, Kamai Pugh, 7, took Simon apart and transformed the array of blue blocks and foam noodles into a child’s vision of a miniature park with swing sets, a weighing scale, a balance beam, a swimming pool and finally, a lime-green airplane.

At the Imagination Playground in a Box, no fantasy seems too far-fetched. The colorful gear, which arrived at the Brownsville Recreation Center in Brooklyn last week and will remain there through Labor Day, is designed to unleash creativity by allowing children to invent their own activities. [More]

Learn more about Imagination Playground

Hip-hop pioneer Joseph Simmons (a.k.a. Reverend Run), the new brand ambassador for the KOOL-AID KaBOOM! initiative, joined his family at a KaBOOM! playground build in Houston July 9.  

"I'm personally committed to bringing families together -- at the dinner table, in communities and on playgrounds," said Reverend Run. "I'm hopeful that by working together, KOOL-AID, KaBOOM!, and I can make a real difference in kids' lives by allowing them to have fun and create the memories that will serve them well for many years to come."

Photos of the build are now available!

Check out these great video interviews with Reverend Run about the project!

Reverend Run interview on Good Day New Mexico
July 3, 2008

Reverend Run and wife Justine interview on My Fox Houston
July 9, 2008

Video from the Houston Chronicle:

Learn more about the partnership between KOOL-AID and KaBOOM!

Team effort creates play area at Pontiff; Community group gets corporate aid
By Earl Hodges
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
July 10, 2008

Sweat and a giant smile covered Lori Tucker's face as she looked at the other volunteers enthusiastically working around her.

"This is all about the kids," Tucker said. "It's important for children to have a safe place to play and stay active."

Tucker, a pre-kindergarten teacher at St. Rita School in Harahan, was one of more than 250 volunteers who converged on Wally Pontiff Jr. Playground in Old Metairie on June 28 to construct a 3,500-square-foot play area, located between the track and tennis courts.

The project was a joint effort of Friends of Pontiff, Pontiff Boosters, CNN's "Fit Nation," Cox Communications and KaBOOM, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that helps build play areas for children. [More]

Volunteer for an upcoming KaBOOM! playground build in the Gulf Coast.

New playground built where 3-year-old TaJanay Bailey was killed
By Laura Misjak
Indianapolis Star
July 11, 2008

The smell of barbecue, sound of gospel music and bright colors of playground equipment filled the scene at the Phoenix Apartments on the city's Northeastside on Thursday.

It wasn't just a picnic, though.

Hundreds of volunteers gathered to construct a $57,000 playground in hopes that picnic tables, monkey bars and a spiral slide will help create a safer environment for the subsidized complex's 190 children.

"Beforehand, you didn't see many kids out here playing, but I think that's something that's going to change," said Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who stopped at the work site Thursday morning.

"Out of a terrible tragedy, you can see how people come together in this community." [More]

Learn how to build a community-built playground with our Toolkit!

ANKENY, Iowa (July 9, 2008) — Nearly 600 residents of all ages ventured out to Hawkeye and Wagner Parks on Tuesday night for Ankeny’s first annual All-City Play Day, an event designed to encourage free and unstructured play.

“This is a great way to showcase our parks and to encourage healthy lifestyles through active play,” said Ankeny Mayor Steve Van Oort.

Twenty activity stations were set up throughout the city’s two most prominent community parks and included a wide range of sports, arts and fun. Each of the activity stations were staffed by volunteers, including the mayor and city council, park board members and city staff. Many of the stations were “mini” with small versions of practice play in kicking a soccer or football, throwing basketballs or hitting tennis balls over the net. The Iowa National Guard brought a portable climbing wall and Polk County Conservation provided canoes that were sailed in Hawkeye Pond. The Lakeside Center hosted a “Salty & Sweat” event for older residents that included indoor games like Dominos and UNO. Canine Craze, a local dog training organization, showcased the skills of several local dogs. Artists young and old could chalk the sidewalk. One of the evening’s hot spots featured a Home Depot Workshop where amateur craftsmen could try their hand at assembling small wood projects. Participants were rewarded with prizes including bright red Frisbees, Playful City USA kazoos and plenty of refreshments.

East Cleveland, Ohio - a 2007 Playful City USA community - was featured in a multi-page article in Cities and Villages, the journal of the Ohio Municipal League.

Download the article here (reprinted with permission)

Watch the Inside CNN podcast featuring Dr. Sanjay Gupta at a KaBOOM! playground build in New Orleans!

Learn more about the build.

My Suncoast News
July 8, 2008
 
MANATEE COUNTY - A new playground will be coming soon to the city of Bradenton, and it will definitely be kid-approved...since they're the ones designing it.

Nobody knows playgrounds better than kids, so it makes since that they help design a new playground to go in at Norma Lloyd Park, also known as 24th Street Park.  Tuesday was the playground design day, and if the kids have their way, the playground is going to be one of a kind. [More - including video]

Learn how to plan a Design Day

Architect David Rockwell, in Partnership with KaBOOM!, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and Local Officials Present an Expandable Collection of Imagination Playground’s Signature Loose Parts to Encourage Creative, Collaborative Kids’ Play

See photos from the event

On Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 12pm, architect David Rockwell of Rockwell Group, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, KaBOOM! CEO and co-founder Darell Hammond, Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron and other local dignitaries will unveil the first-ever Imagination Playground in a BOX – a new children’s play space at the Brownsville Recreation Center playground, located at Linden Boulevard between Mother Gaston Boulevard and Christopher Street in Brooklyn, NY.  Sixty children from the Brownsville Summer Camp will be on hand to see the introduction of their new play space and of course, to play!  This installation is funded by KaBOOM!, a national non-profit  dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of children, as part of their mission to ensure that every child has access to a great place to play within walking distance.  Councilman Barron has been working extensively to transform the Brownsville Recreational Center and its adjacent park into a vibrant, new area for neighborhood children.

“It’s so exciting to see the concept of creative play actually become a reality in New York,” said David Rockwell, founder and CEO of Rockwell Group.  We are incredibly grateful to KaBOOM!, the New York City Parks & Recreation Department, and Brownsville’s local officials for working with us to make these play opportunities available to the children in this community and beyond.”

Learn more about KaBOOM! and Imagination Playground.

Watch the entire episode of "House Call With Dr. Sanjay Gupta."
Watch a short teaser video on the build.
Read the blog.
Learn more.

By DANI SCHWEIGERT
Lake County (Ill.) Journals

ROUND LAKE – Get ready, Round Lake Area. A new place to play is coming your way.

Discover Financial Services and KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization that helps communities build playgrounds, have teamed up with the Round Lake Area Park District to build a playground and skate park at the park district’s Community Center.

“It’s going to add to the function, operation and amenities of the park district and the community center,” said Jeff Nehila, executive director of the park district. [More]

Want to build a playground in your neighborhood? We've got all the tools you need!

Partnership with KaBOOM!, WaMu bringing new play area to child development center on Compton Boulevard
By Allison Jean Eaton
Compton (Calif.) Bulletin
June 25, 2008

COMPTON – From your typical slide and swing set to more imaginative requests like a tree house, tunnel and “choo-choo train,” toddlers and pre-school age children who spend their days at the child development center at the YWCA offered up requests for their up-and-coming new playground.

Nonprofit KaBOOM! and Washington Mutual (WaMu) have teamed to make the new playground a reality. The two organizations hosted a design day Tuesday, June 17 at the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles’ Compton Boulevard location. [More]

Learn how to plan a Design Day

June 28 & 29, 11 am – 5 pm

Imaginative Foam Blocks of a Variety of Shapes and Sizes, Fabric, Tarps and Cardboard Nurture Fun, Imaginative Play

Queens, N.Y. – June 17, 2008 - Children of all ages are invited to play with hundreds of foam building blocks from Imagination Playground, which nurtures creative play and is being planned for downtown New York City, when the Hall in the Anthony Viscusi Gallery at the New York Hall of Science is transformed into a giant playground for kids of all ages on June 28 and 29th between 11am and 5pm.  This event will feature over 265 blue foam blocks of different weights and sizes, which children will be able to build structures and sculptures, tear them down, and then start all over again.  They will also be able to integrate loose parts and found objects, including fabrics, tarps and reused cardboard, into the fun. 
 
The foam blocks, designed by the Rockwell Group, are part of the architecture and design firm’s Imagination Playground which is being built in Burling Slip near South Street Seaport, as well as in an abbreviated form in Brownsville, Brooklyn.  There are others being planned for the remaining boroughs of New York, and throughout the country. Rockwell Group first developed the design and concept for Imagination Playground, which breaks ground this summer, to nurture creative play through a combination of loose parts, water and sand, creating an infinite number of creative play ideas and ensuring that no two visits to the play ground are ever the same. This type of design architecture allows for transformative, socio-cooperative and imaginative constructive play, which can evolve as children mature.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization that empowers communities to build playgrounds, and CNN announced an agreement to promote play as part of an active lifestyle for children.

KaBOOM!, which has directly facilitated the building of more than 1,400 playspaces across North America since its inception in 1995, will join with CNN and Cox Communications to build a playground at Pontiff Park in New Orleans in just one day on June 28  that will provide more than 10,000 children with a great place to play. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will participate in the build, which will be covered as part of CNN’s Fit Nation programming, a multi-platform initiative to stop obesity.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with CNN in this endeavor,” KaBOOM! CEO and co-founder Darell Hammond said. “We’re optimistic that promoting healthy and active lifestyles with CNN will produce positive change on multiple fronts. There’s no question that increasing the amount of time children play on a playground is a critical component to our goal of improving fitness and health.”

The build will be featured on CNN’s House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a program dedicated to the latest health and medical developments and airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 to 8 a.m. (CT), as well as Fit Nation segments across the network’s properties. The playground build also marks the first CNN Fit Nation activity in 2008. CNN’s Fit Nation initiative began in 2006 as an ongoing multi-platform initiative to stop obesity and encourage healthier lifestyles. Over the past two years, Fit Nation and Gupta have traveled across the country engaging people in their own communities to get more active and develop local programs to meet the challenges of being overweight.

WPBT (PBS)

When we launched our web portal, uVu, last year, we expected the project to become a source for stories by and about the community, but always with the hope that we could connect with people in a physical space as well. Late last week we had another opportunity to do that and you can watch the video here.

In Plantation, there was a small park on Fig Tree Lane, damaged by Hurricane Wilma, that had fallen almost completely into disrepair. But thanks to some impressive partners and a lot of community "sweat equity" a new park was erected on the site. Despite the threat of rain and an early morning string of thunderstorms, volunteers turned out (and returned) to put this park together in a single day. A partnership between KaBOOM, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to building parks across the country, the Massey-Yardley Dealership, the City of Plantation officials and dozens of Plantation neighbors helped raise the new playground. [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! Funding Partners.
 

Lieberman, hospice owner win volunteerism awards
By DEBORAH HASTINGS
Associated Press
June 18, 2008

Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Nancy Collins, a Mississippi woman who established a rural hospice offering physical and religious care to the terminally ill, were among more than a dozen recipients Tuesday of the Jefferson Awards, given for national and local public service.

...

Other winners during Tuesday's celebration dinner at Washington's Union Station:

Public service by a private citizen: Retired District of Columbia police detective Edward Michael Jagen, creator of the Good Knight Child Empowerment Network, which provides training to children on fending off abuse and sexual advances from adults.

Public service benefiting the disadvantaged: Darell Hammond, leader of KaBOOM! Working with communities and corporate volunteers, Hammond helps bring playgrounds and skate parks to underprivileged areas across the country. Since his organization was founded in 1995 more than 2,000 recreation centers have been built and renovated. [More]

Learn more about the award.

WLOX - Kids welcome KaBOOM! 100th playground

Arizona Republic

Banker and Tradesman

Boston Business Journal

Breitbart.com

Business Journal of Milwaukee

Construction Writers Association

Dayton Business Journal

Houston Chronicle

IT Industry Today

Jacksonville Business Journal

Los Angeles Business

Los Angeles Times

Nashville Business Journal

Orlando Business Journal

Pittsburgh Business Times

RCR Wireless News

South Florida Business Journal

State House News Service

Technology Today

US Politics Today

Learn more about Operation Playground

A photo from the ribbon-cutting at the 100th Operation Playground build appeared on a huge electronic billboard in Times Square in New York City between 10 and 11 a.m. Eastern time on June 16! Here's what it looked like:

The 100th build from Operation Playground was featured on "Good Morning America" today!

Watch the segment here.

Learn more about Operation Playground.

By Brian Malnes
The Denver Post
June 13, 2008

When Cora Sue Gonzales became principal at Denver's Johnson Elementary School last year, one of her first priorities was resurrecting the dilapidated playground.

"It is really important for the kids to have a safe place to play that they are excited to go to," Gonzales said.

On Thursday, it happened in a day.

More than 200 volunteers, organized by KaBOOM, the Chrysler Foundation, Chrysler Financial, and local Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealerships, descended on the school, 1850 S. Irving St., to help create the children's dream playground. The final design was based on drawings provided by Johnson students who met in April with organizers from KaBOOM. [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! community partner builds.

Stories on the 100th build in the Gulf Coast:
WLOX TV - KaBoom Completes Their 100th Playground

Biloxi Sun Herald - KaBOOM! celebrates 100th playground

Story on upcoming Gulf Coast builds:
Mississippi Press - KaBOOM! playground to be built in Gautier

Learn more about Operation Playground.

WHP CBS 21, Harrisburg, Pa.

Hundreds of people joined forces Thursday in Steelton to build a new playground in just one day. It was part of a project put together by the Steelton-Highspire School District, Home Depot and KaBOOM!. Watch the video!

Learn more about community partner builds.

Students had their say in look of new Community Day playground
By Susan Jacobs
Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh

When students return to Community Day this fall, they will have a new playground, with equipment hand-selected by students.

On June 2, sixth-graders at the school watched a video from Landscape Structure, a company that produces sophisticated playground equipment under the label Evos.

...

The students were impressed with the options available through Evos.

"They were oohing and aahing when they saw it," said Dubner.

...

Parents and community members have been raising money for the playground and the Grable Foundation and KaBOOM awarded a $10,000 grant to the project. In all, some $30,000 has already been raised, and another $5,000 is still needed.  [More]

Read more about EVOS.

Kristin Thebaud
Ventura County Star
June 10, 2008

OXNARD, Calif.- Volunteers mixed more than nine and a half tons of concrete by hand and assembled more than 4,675 pounds of equipment to build a playground in one day at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme's Martin V. Smith Branch on 5th Street in Oxnard on Saturday. Volunteers from the Amgen Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the Oxnard community joined forces to build a new, safe playground based on drawings provided by children who attended a Design Day event in April.

"Every child deserves a safe place to play," said Nancy Mayerson, board president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme. "We are grateful to KaBOOM! and the Amgen Foundation for recognizing the importance of this new playground for thousands of Oxnard children."

The new playground will provide more than 3,000 children in the community with a safe place to play each year. The play space is the first of two that will be built by KaBOOM! and the Amgen Foundation this year, and one of more than 225 KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2008 in an effort to provide a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. [More]

How can you build a playground your community? Get started here.

Hip-hop pioneer Joseph Simmons (a.k.a. Reverend Run), the new brand ambassador for the KOOL-AID KaBOOM! initiative, joined his family on a community build in Los Angeles Wednesday.

"I'm personally committed to bringing families together -- at the dinner table, in communities and on playgrounds," said Reverend Run. "I'm hopeful that by working together, KOOL-AID, KaBOOM!, and I can make a real difference in kids' lives by allowing them to have fun and create the memories that will serve them well for many years to come."

See photos of Reverend Run at the build.

Interviews with Reverend Run about the build, KOOL-AID, and KaBOOM! can be found at the links below.

Fox 5 Vegas

My Fox Atlanta

Kraft says oh yeah to sugar free KOOL-AID
Brandweek

Rev Run – the new face for KOOL-AID
Buddy TV

KOOL-AID Introduces New products and Better-For-You Brand Direction
Fox Business

Rev. Run back on the playgrounds
USA Today

Learn more about the partnership

Nonprofit playground builders hosting seminar in New Orleans
By Chad Ruiz
St. Tammany (La.) News
June 9, 2008

KaBOOM!, playground builder extraordinaire which recently held a build in Lacombe, is hosting a free seminar at the Marriott Convention Center in New Orleans to offer insight to community members on successfully building playgrounds.

Located at 859 Convention Center Blvd., the function is part of KaBOOM!’s We Play! series that provides instructional seminars throughout the U.S. to give community members guidance on proven methods for building playgrounds.

“Anyone who has an interest in building a playground, whether it’s for your kids or a park, is welcome,” Mike Vietti with KaBOOM! said. [More]

Learn more about -- and register for -- a WE Play! near you!

Beneveloent Blogger Project
By Geggie
So...What Else, What Else, What Else?
June 07, 2008

My buddy, Brian, shared this project with me last month. He's on his second month and I'm just now getting around to doing my part.

Basically, here's the deal. I'm making a commitment to do something charitable each month. I generally do this, but I'm instituting this as a form of accountability for myself and to hopefully get you involved. Thus, the Benevolent Blogger Project. I am planning to contribute 3% of my income each month AND 3% of my time. I'm not sharing what the dollar figure is, but the time is one day.

I'm kicking off this month with a donation to Kaboom! Kaboom! is a non-profit organization that builds playgrounds for children. They have a committment that there should be a playground within walking distance of every neighborhood in American. Isn't that cool?

For my time commitment, I was in Durham, NC this week and participated in building a playground. This playground was in Hope's Crossing. Hope's Crossing is the first ever "Green" Habitat for Humanity subdivision in NC. There was a building blitz this week and 10 houses were built in just FIVE DAYS! Yes, you read that right. Five days!!

The cherry on top was the playground for the kids! [More]

Learn more ways to volunteer with KaBOOM!.

Donate to KaBOOM!.

Food, water and helping hands needed
By DEANNA ROSE
Shelby Township (Mich.) Source
June 8, 2008

A new Playscape is going to be erected at Delia Park in Sterling Heights and the city needs approximately 200 volunteers to help build it, along with donations of food and beverages for those helping out. “Build Day” will take place from approximately 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 19 at Delia Park, located on 18 Mile Road, west of Ryan Road.

The project is a cooperative effort among the city, the Chrysler Foundation, Chrysler Jeep Superstores, Motor City Dodge Dealers, the Sterling Heights Community Foundation and KaBOOM, a national nonprofit organization that promotes recreation opportunities throughout the United States.

“We’re certainly pleased to participate in this project,” Community Foundation Vice President Dr. Martin Brown said.

Brian Glowiak, vice president of the Chrysler Foundation, said it’s not just about the financial investment, but about the investment in the volunteers and the goodwill brought forth through this effort.

“We’re very excited to invest in the community,” Glowiak said. “It’s always good to give back.”  [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! funding partners.

100th playground planned
Biloxi SUN HERALD
June 8, 2008

After Hurricane Katrina struck the Coast, KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit that helps communities build playgrounds, made a commitment to build 100 playgrounds in the areas hardest hit.

On June 14 in Bay St. Louis, KaBOOM! will reach this goal.

"When KaBOOM! began Operation Playground just three months after Hurricane Katrina struck, those outside the area were incredulous, believing that playgrounds were the last thing people needed in the midst of the devastation," said Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! CEO and co-founder. "But we knew that the Gulf Coast's youngest residents needed safe places to escape the stress of the rebuilding effort and reclaim their childhood."

On Dec. 17, 2005, more than 600 residents and other volunteers came together at Carol Vegas Park in Bay St. Louis to build a new playground, the first new permanent structure in the town after Katrina. [More]

Learn more about the 100th build

Young people's volunteering discussed at conference
Former Sen. Sam Nunn among panel members at community service gathering.

By CHRISTOPHER QUINN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
June 3, 2008

Millennials, that massive bulge of young Americans born starting about 1982, have been portrayed in media as spoiled, distracted, indulged, obsessed with technology and dependent on their parents.

Less often heard are stories about how much good they do.
 
They volunteer — build playgrounds, tutor, travel to the Gulf Coast to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and raise money for causes — at twice the rates their parents did, said David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

...

Darell Hammond, head of KaBoom, which builds playgrounds using volunteer labor, said after the discussion that millennials are different from their parents in other ways as well. They want results now, and they will not wait around for orders at a helping event. They jump right in and start working, creating their own order as they go.

"They have energy and ambition. And they don't ask for permission; they ask for forgiveness," Hammond said.

"They have this smart mob mentality. They just show up and start doing stuff." [More]

Learn ways you can volunteer with KaBOOM!.

Check out these videos from the Home Depot/KaBOOM! build in Milwaukee June 5.

CBS 58

My Fox Milwaukee

Vikings pitch in on playground
Players, staff do a day's work at north Minneapolis school

By Sean Jensen
St. Paul Pioneer Press
June 5, 2008

Eric Mahmoud figured he was being Punk'd.

The co-founder of Seed Academy / Harvest Prep School in north Minneapolis, Mahmoud received a call from Brad Madson a few months ago.

The Vikings' executive director of community relations informed Mahmoud that his charter school had been selected to receive a new playground, courtesy of the club, KaBOOM! and Toro.

"We had an old, unsafe playground, and we've been trying to raise money for it," said Mahmoud, who founded Seed Academy as a 10-child day care with his wife, Ella, in 1985. "Then I got a call out of the blue from Brad Madson.

"I thought it was a joke."

That wasn't all. The three companies sought the students' input, and they combined forces to build the playground in a single day.

"It's a dream come true," Mahmoud said. "It's not just writing a check. This is phenomenal." [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! partnerships with professional sports teams.

Building a playground in a day in Fountain Heights
By ANNE RUISI
Birmingham (Ala.) News
June 04, 2008

More than 200 volunteers are expected Saturday to build a dream playground in one day in Fountain Heights.

"It gone from being a wish, to a dream to a reality," said Doris Powell, president of the Fountain Heights Neighborhood.

Construction will start at 8:30 a.m. and be completed by the 2:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony. Volunteers are welcome to join the effort Saturday morning.

The long-awaited, 2,500-square-foot KaBOOM! playground will be built at the Fountain Heights Recreation Center, 1101 15th Ave. North. Its design is based on drawings provided by children who attended a design day event in April.

Swings, slides and a rock climbing panel are some of the features that will be in the new playground.

The project is a joint effort of OPUS Corp., which built the new Social Security Administration building in the neighborhood, KaBoom!, and the Fountain Heights Community Development Corp. [More]

Learn how to build a playground from start to finish with the KaBOOM! Online Toolkit!

Playground will be built in single day
Boys & Girls Clubs do own version of 'Extreme Makeover: Home'

By Joanne Cunha
Ventura County (Calif.) Star
June 4, 2008

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme will hold a version of the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" TV show by building a new playground in one day — Saturday — at Southwest Park in Oxnard.

The Amgen Foundation has provided a $62,500 grant for the project, with $7,500 provided by the Boys & Girls Clubs.

"It's really a dream come true," said Tim Blaylock, spokesman for the clubs. "We don't have a playground with play structures. Twenty kids actually helped design the project with KaBOOM.

"They've been doing this model for a long time. It's based on trying to get a community to rally around a project and people taking pride in it." [More]

Learn more about KaBOOM! Community Partner Builds

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Learn more about Imagination Playground