Our playground project was revealed as a surprise on HGTV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!
HGTV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition premiered its newest season with an episode featuring the surprise of a new duplex and new KABOOM! playground for two military families and their community in Palmdale, CA.
The Merlos and Olivares families were thrilled to become homeowners of a new duplex but didn’t realize the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team and KABOOM! had an additional surprise in store – a new playground for their neighborhood!
Thanks to amazing community members and our friends at Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, including Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Breegan Jane, Ty Pennington, Darren Keefe and Carrie Locklyn, we built a safe, inspiring playground to spark hope for kids of military families – for generations to come.
It was an honor for KABOOM! to be part of this project with Homes 4 Families, an organization that builds neighborhoods and homes designed specifically for military families, to build a new community for veterans. The inaugural duplex and playground will make it easier for veterans to transition back to their families.
These places will also have a built-in sense of community, and a place for neighborhood kids to access the play they need to combat toxic stress. This is particularly important for military-connected kids, who can experience significant emotional impact when a parent deploys, returns home from military services or when they move locations frequently.
KABOOM! has been proud to support military kids and families for many years, and so this experience was a wonderful addition to the growing body work we’ve done with military communities and our partners that support this initiative.
Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery
