It is also a great idea when you are asking for water or liquid for volunteers during a build day to remember that you loose salt and electrolites and so securing soda and gatorade as options for volunteers helps to keep the energy up and your playground construction right on schedule!! Happy Building!
This is a great idea! Encouraging youth in philanthropy is critical to continuing charitable contributions through the generations. I just might steal your idea!
Berea Children’s home…I’m so glad you’re keeping in touch with us here at KaBOOM! after the great WE Play! training you recently attended. Although now a project manager with KaBOOM!, I graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College a few years ago and am excited to hear about a playground being built right there in Berea, Ohio. You should definitely tap into the BW students and their Office of Community Outreach for recruitment help (as needed). I know they would love it.
I’m glad you like the water idea shared above. I wanted to also pass along an idea that can work for water, tools, or other needed supplies. I’ve worked with communities that have put out “giving trees” around the community (library, schools, malls, etc.) in which the needs of the build day are each put on pieces of paper and hung on a tree for people to take and return the needed items by a specified date. For example, if you need 24 cases of water, you could hang 24 pieces of paper on the tree asking for a case of water for each paper “ornament” they take. You can even have the kids make the paper ornaments based on the shape of pieces of the playground.
This works for tools, fundraising, and many other ideas. You may want to do it soon, so as not to compete with the numerous giving trees that pop up during the holidays.
This method is an excellent way to get the entire community involved and to spread the word about the whole event. You may want to put the basic information about the build on the back of the ornament. However, be sure to ask that the items (whatever it may be) returned to you at least a week before the build date so you know for sure how many of that item you have.