NORTH PORT -- Bare, unlandscaped and riddled with growing weeds will no longer be the image of North Port's Blue Ridge Park.

As one of Home Depot's "month-of-service" projects, the home improvement store donated a "handful" of volunteers and about $400 worth of planting materials to manicure Blue Ridge Park in North Port.

"We go out into the community, and see what needs to happen and start making phone calls," North Port Home Depot Store Manager Shane Eilers said.

When 500 people decide to tackle something en masse, you know they'll make a difference especially with the backing of a rich corporation.

Such is what happened Wednesday at the David Park in Zion when volunteers from Discover Financial Services donated their time and energy to build a playground with a skate park in a hurry.

"Five hundred smart people can do a lot in a day," said Diane Offereins, Discover executive vice president and chief information officer.

Bibb County has received a KaBoom Challenge Grant for $4,000 to help fund a playground at Lake Tobesofkee, officials announced Wednesday.

The award also includes a $500 gift card from Home Depot and a scholarship for local government officials to attend a KaBoom training session in Chicago.

KaBoom is a nonprofit corporation geared toward helping communities design and create playgrounds.

By JOE FITZGIBBON
Copyright 2006 The Oregonian
All Rights Reserved

It wasn't the mayor flipping pancakes, the dozens of kids pounding out bird houses or even the scores of volunteers laying sod on the soccer field that held 10-year-old Jeremy Welsh's attention Wednesday morning.

Instead, it was the chance to cover an ugly splotch of black asphalt with a giant, colorful map of the world that delighted him most.

"It was awful looking before," said the Irvington Elementary School fifth-grader. "The whole place is going to be neat when we get finished."

 

The Village Toy Shop, an independent toy store in North Easton and Canton and a member of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, is Leading the Way Through Active Play, a national ASTRA Initiative that plans to reverse that trend by encouraging children to get out and play.
 
The Village Toy Shop is on a campaign to get kids off the couch, away from television and out running around, batting balls, riding bikes and chasing butterflies in the fresh air. The Village Toy Shop highlights active play as part of a healthy child's way of life. By keeping them busy, whether outside or inside, activities other than television and the couch promote a positive, healthy lifestyle.

Children need to play. This observation might seem obvious, but lately, it is my rallying cry. It has to be. There is so much discussion among parents and educators about the relative benefits of academic versus developmentally appropriate preschools, and as testing rules the day, proponents of the academic model seem to be gaining ground.

But I am a parent, and I have been a preschool teacher for more than twenty years, and my experience and training tell me one thing loud and clear.

Children need to play.

 

For the 500 children who attend Clark Elementary School in Portland, the only place to play in their school yard is on a rotting wood playground that is more than 20 years old. The school district facilities team declared the structure unsafe years ago, but had no funds for playground replacement. Parents and students have been fundraising for three years for a new playground, and have recently learned that Opus Northwest, a full-service real estate development company with offices in Portland, will invest in the project and will help them lead the hands on construction this Saturday of a custom playground designed by the students! “This project is very special for my team,” explained John Bartell, vice president and general manager, “We are part of a company with a long history of community stewardship, and we are really enjoying this opportunity to contribute in a ‘hands-on’ way to the vitality of this Portland neighborhood.” In addition to this Portland project, Opus Northwest is leading playground projects with KaBOOM! this year in Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Minneapolis, as well as a skatepark in Seattle.

 

The playground people are at it again.

"Kaboom" has already built several new playgrounds in areas hit by the hurricane. Thursday, it partnered with a financial services group called "Foresters" to build one in Moss Point.

It was a welcome project for East Park Elementary.

 

To see a video of the local news coverage, click here! (You'll need a version of Windows Media Player 7 or higher to view the video.)

 

And click here for the build day photo gallery!