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]

Check it out...this is from a KaBOOM! build Aug. 16 in Philadelphia.

Park at old Memorial Stadium grounds had been haven for hundreds of children
By Justin Fenton
Baltimore Sun
Sept. 10, 2008

Fire destroyed the sprawling playground that thousands of volunteers built three years ago at the site of the old Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street, a blaze that community leaders called "devastating" as they vowed to rebuild.

...

The 14,000-square-foot playground was built in 2005 next to the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Family Center at Stadium Place, providing a safe gathering spot for hundreds of children in the heart of the community. With senior homes built nearby, the playground was key part of the area's redevelopment and a place where residents young and old converged.

Money for the $350,000 project was raised through fish fries and spaghetti dinners and by local schoolchildren, and an army of volunteers from across the region chipped in to build the structure. [More]

Discuss this article in the Forums.

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]

By Amy Lea
The Camden (Maine) Herald Reporter
Aug. 15, 2008

First-graders at Rockport Elementary School took fundraising for a new playground into their own hands when they combined their efforts to create and raffle a quilt.

Each student in Kim Wickenden’s class made their own unique fabric square this spring. And with assistance from parent volunteer Carrie Hedstrom, the quilt was pieced together, with each student's name sewn on the finished product.

“We wanted to do something as a class where all the children felt like they contributed to the playground and produce something that would also raise money,” Wickenden said.

A total of $801.95 was raised in raffle ticket sales, to fund the new playground at the West Rockport Campus. [More]

Learn more great fundraising ideas!

By Keith Ferguson
Sharon (Mass.) Advocate
Aug 07, 2008
 
SHARON - Thanks to the efforts of about 100 volunteers last weekend, children will be playing on the new Heights Community Playground as early as tomorrow, according to Project Manager Karen Wald.

About 60 community members worked seven hours on Friday and 40 or so labored all day Saturday to install the new playground equipment, which includes giant slides, a rock wall and a PlayWeb, said Wald. All that’s left, she added, is to lay down mulch and install a walking track and a shade structure.

“I can’t wait until it’s over,” Wald said, laughing.

The playground has been two years in the making. [More]

Learn how to build a playground with our Roadmap!

A recent KaBOOM! build at the Marsha Barbour Community Center in Pass Christian, Miss. featured a unique side project - a brightly-colored, kid-sized maze!

The kids and adults came up with the idea during their Design Day, and Justin Fitzgerald, KaBOOM! Project Manager, took on the task of creating the plans and figuring out the logistics to create it.

The maze, which measures 25 feet by 30 feet, was made of 4x4 pieces of lumber and 4-foot tall sheets of plywood. On the outside of the maze, kids painted beach-themed murals, and on the inside of the maze, they painted bright, solid colors.

On Prep Day, volunteers dug holes for the 4x4 posts, primed the plywood sheets and sketched the kid-designed murals onto them. On Build Day, they assembled the maze and as soon as each plywood sheet was attached, the kids began to paint it.

"People loved it," said Justin. "It turned out well."

Check out more photos of the maze, and other side project ideas - we hope to post the maze plans soon!

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 Kyle Wind
Kingston Daily Freeman
August 1, 2008

KINGSTON - After one year of planning, it only took just one day to build a playground at Metropolitan Park on the corner of Greenkill and South Clinton avenues.

Volunteers numbering 252 began constructing the playground at 8 a.m. Thursday, and by 4 p.m., a ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the colorful play area designed for children ages 2 through 12. The site features slides, climbing apparatus, monkey bars, swings, a preschool area and an accessible climber for children with disabilities.

The playground also includes benches, picnic tables, shade structures and horseshoe pits, as well as volleyball and basketball courts. [More]

Learn how to build benches, picnic tables, shade structures and more!

By Kim Lawrence
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
July 31, 2008

A gift from a soon-to-be second-grader and the complaints of a group of parents have prompted Moon Area School District to send a maintenance crew to J.A. Allard Elementary School to draw up a "to-do" list of repairs. In addition, the superintendent has e-mailed parents to schedule a meeting to address more long-term concerns.

Leah Baker, a pupil at Allard, turned 7 years old June 21. She chose to celebrate her birthday by giving rather than receiving.

The youngster donated $200 of her birthday money to the school district to fix her favorite slide in the school playground. [More]

Learn lots of great fundraising ideas in our Fundraising Ideas wiki!

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.

A Play Day is one day when the community gets together to celebrate and recognize the importance of play — unstructured, self-motivated play — for kids of all ages. Organizing a Play Day is a good way to draw attention to the importance of play in the lives of all children in your community as well as create momentum for long-term commitments to building and caring for playspaces. A Play Day can be a simple (and, of course, fun) affair that lasts a few hours, or it can be a full day of activities, games, prizes, free play, and community building! A Play Day can be big or small, including a neighborhood or a whole city. It’s time to celebrate and have fun. And, don’t forget, this is your opportunity to network!

Get lots of resources and tips on our new Play Day planning resources page!

We've added some fun new photos to our photo gallery! Check them out!

Atlanta, GA - Whiteford Elementary School (Chrysler), 7/10/08
Indianapolis, IN - Save the Youth (The Home Depot), 7/10/08
WE Play! New Orleans - 7/25/08

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.

By MEGHAN DURBAK
Kokomo Tribune
July 23, 2008

When Jeremy Jones arrived at the Maple Lawn Trailer Court in Miami County, he noted the pathetic state of the playground.

The dirt and empty frames acted as testimony to the diminishing quality of life in the neighborhood over the years.

There was a swing set with no swings, except the infant carrier loosely attached to the metal frame by a rope. The rest had disappeared long ago.

Jones realized the neighborhood had nearly 100 young children, and nowhere for them to play.

That’s why Jones, the youth pastor for First Baptist Church of Galveston, and the youth group DV8, decided to sponsor a mission trip to the trailer court. [More]

Learn how to revitalize a playground near you with side projects!

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.

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!

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

CNN and KaBOOM! are teaming up to build a playground in New Orleans this Saturday. Here's how you can be a part of the action!

• See photos from the Design Day
• See photos from the Build Day (coming June 30)
• Discuss this playground build in the Forums
• Watch CNN.com/health for their coverage of the day.

If you're planning on building a playspace, you can't go wrong with the KaBOOM! Project Planner. It's a great way to track volunteers and funding for your project, and it puts your project in our searchable database so funders and volunteers can find you!

Based on registered projects, here's who's been building (and is planning to build) in the month of June. Send happy thoughts their way! (Click the "Read more" button for the list!)

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.
 

Parents, clubs, businesses provide money for school facility in poor neighborhood
By Cathy Spaulding
Muskogee (Okla.) Daily Phoenix
June 21, 2008

Sixth-grader Kayla Royse said she didn’t have a decent playground set for all the years she spent at Irving Elementary School.

“I just walk around and be bored during recess,” she said. “I didn’t think I could ever get to see a playground set that was fun.”

When Kayla and other Irving students come back to school this August, they’ll have a new set — yellow and Rougher green, complete with humpy slides, towers and spiral ladders.

Irving school administrators and Parent Teacher Organization members said hard work and good fortune helped them raise the thousands of dollars to buy and put up the playground set.

Irving, however, faced an extra challenge because of its high poverty rate, Irving principal Dr. Pam Bradley said. In 2007, 87 percent of Irving students were on free or reduced lunch. Tony Goetz Elementary, where Bradley used to be principal, had a 60 percent of its students on free or reduced lunch. The district average was 75 percent on free and reduced lunch; the state average, 56 percent. [More]

Check out the KaBOOM! one-stop fundraising shop for all kinds of fundraising resources!

By Nick Hytrek, Sioux City (Iowa) Journal
June 23, 2008

HUBBARD, Neb. -- When they began raising money to replace old playground equipment in their town's park, members of the newly formed Hubbard Betterment Committee had a simple goal: Out with the old, in with the new.

It seemed like a straightforward task. Raise enough money to get new, safe equipment to replace old metal swings, a merry-go-round that had rusty bolts sticking up out of it and a slide that long ago had stopped meeting modern safety standards.

But in the months that followed since they began meeting in late 2006, committee members noticed something else happening. They weren't just updating an old playground, they were replacing old attitudes.

Hubbard residents, both old and new, were opening up more than their checkbooks. They were opening their eyes to the possibilities for their town. They were asking how they, too, could help. They were thinking of other ways to improve their community of 234 people. [More]

Learn how to organize your community to build a 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.

Check out photos from the build!

More than 500 volunteers converged on Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park in Bay St. Louis on Saturday to help KaBOOM! and our partners complete the 100th Operation Playground project in the Gulf Coast. In December 2005, KaBOOM! committed to build 100 playgrounds in the region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast, starting with the first in Bay St. Louis. It was only fitting that the 100th playground was built in the town where it all began. 

The 100th build was a true community celebration. Not even a midday shower could dampen the enthusiasm of the volunteers from the local community, Fannie Mae, AmeriCorps*NCCC, Gulf Coast Recovery Corps, Keesler Air Force base, and others, many of whom had participated in several previous Operation Playground projects. In just under six hours, the volunteers completed two playground structures, refurbished two basketball courts, and built an extensive new ‘front porch’ entrance to the park. They also painted several murals commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, the community and Operation Playground. As a finishing touch, local children created a ‘Heroes Walk’ around the park honoring the men and women of the Civil Rights movement. 

The project was made possible by a partnership between KaBOOM!, the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Fannie Mae, Foundation for the Mid South, the City of Bay St. Louis, Hancock Housing Resource Center and Powerhouse of Deliverance Church. At 2:30, representatives from each of the organizations, along with the volunteers and past Operation Playground Community Partners, gathered to cut a very special ribbon made up of 100 painted panels representing each of the 100 Operation Playground projects.    

Because of Operation Playground, more than 22,000 volunteers have donated their time to build playgrounds for nearly 50,000 children from Houston to Mobile.  In all, through Operation Playground, $8.2 million has been invested to build great new places to play in the Gulf Coast by Jim and Donna Barksdale, The Home Depot, Playworld Systems, Fannie Mae, Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, NBA Cares, DJR Foundation, AmeriCares, ESPN, ING Direct and other outstanding partners. 

KaBOOM! will continue to build in the region and already has several projects scheduled through December. The 101st and 102nd Operation Playground projects will take place in New Orleans and Biloxi on Saturday, June 28. Volunteer for one of these projects.

Comment on this story

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.

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.

Make your playspace dreams come true with the help of our webinars! From ideas for promoting play in your community to fundraising to working with the media, we've got you covered.

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