This past weekend, KaBOOM! was given the honor of exhibiting at Governor Haley Barbour's Recovery Expo, a convention-style event focusing on all aspects of the recovery and renewal process for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. With only three weeks left until our ten Anniversary Week builds, the timing for KaBOOM! to attend the Expo could not have been better. Although the eye-catching purple and orange balloon bouquets, a table full of kazoos and three energetic KaBOOM! representatives attracted a fair amount of visitors to the KaBOOM! booth, the main focal point of our exhibit was definitely the gigantic green and orange Play Web that sat directly behind our tables. The Play Web, made by our Anniversary Week Partner, Playworld Systems, will be installed in the Miramar Park playground in Biloxi on August 31st. 

Although the Play Web attracted a considerable amount of attention, the majority of people who have stopped by our booth throughout the weekend were familiar with KaBOOM! and many had attended one of our first nine builds.  Those who weren't familiar with KaBOOM! were eager to learn about Operation Playground and our work in the Gulf.  After listening to an explanation of our work in the Gulf and why play is so important, Lynn Montella, the mother of a six year old daughter said that our work had inspired her to take action.  "I live in downtown Longbeach about a half a block from an old park that would make a great playground.  You can't just wait around for other people to make something happen when something can be done."

Thank You

Time and time again I've heard that people in the Gulf Coast are worried that once the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina passes the rest of the country will forget the devastation and destruction faced by their region and the long road to recovery that still lies ahead.  I never understood how much this means to people in the Gulf Coast until I represented KaBOOM! at the Recovery Expo.  I started realizing this when I noticed how many people at the Expo were stopping by our booth just to say, "thank you."  Being part of a non-profit organization that builds playgrounds for kids, you get used to people thanking you for your work; it goes with the territory.  But in the Gulf Coast, when someone says, "Thank you," oftentimes the meaning of that person's words is a lot deeper than, "We're enjoying our new playground." A mother of four grown children and survivor of Hurricane Camille thanked us for giving children in the Gulf safe places to play while their parents rebuild.  On Sunday afternoon, a grandmother of three who had volunteered at our Pass Christian build in April said, "Thank you for the work you're doing down here.  You can't imagine how much it means to us.  These kids need a place to play."  Other visitors to our booth had never been near a KaBOOM! playground, but had heard about Operation Playground and wanted us to know how much our work means to their region.

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I came on board at KaBOOM! in December of 2005 right before our first Operation Playground build.  I've watched our initiative grow from the organization's decision to use the funds we earned in the Amazon.com non-profit innovation competition for our first build in Bay St. Louis, MS to committing to build 100 playgrounds in the Gulf in two years.  Over the next month I will be blogging on our Web Portal about Operation Playground and our work in the Gulf as we count down to our ten Anniversary Week projects.

I attended our fourth Operation Playground build in Pass Christian, Miss., last April.  Pass Christian was one of the heaviest hit among the Gulf Coast in terms of population, schools and retail establishments lost. More than 550 volunteers came out to construct a gigantic playground that included a Playweb, four bays of swings, a Dino Dig, a butterfly garden, numerous side projects and over $10,000 worth of landscaping donated by The Home Depot Foundation.  Located just across the street from the beach and surrounded by Live Oak Trees that were just beginning to rejuvenate after storms War Memorial Park was absolutely amazing.  One of the most touching aspects of the playground were the mosaic stepping stones made by the children using pieces of the lives of the people of Pass Christian.  Rather than throwing away the broken dishes, wedding china, family heirlooms and keys to homes no longer standing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the residents of Pass Christian donated their broken items to be turned into a beautiful and symbolic mosaic.  After the build, one of the kids who helped construct the mosaic tiles proudly said that someday she would bring her own children back to the park to show them the stepping stones she had made when she was a little girl.

In Pass Christian, I also had the opportunity to work alongside Bob Nardelli, the Chairman, President and CEO of The Home Depot and several other members of The Home Depot team who had traveled from Atlanta to Pass Christian for Build Day.  As soon as Bob arrived on the site he went straight to work constructing a triple-slide racer with a team made up of volunteers from the local Home Depot and Pass Christian community.  At one point during the day a community member and Home Depot shopper approached Bob with suggestions for his local store.  After listening to his concerns, Bob took the time to connect the man with The Home Depot's district manager for further discussion. The Home Depot has been contributing to the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast since the very first day families were allowed to return to their communities.  So not to slow the rebuilding process for even a day, The Home Depot quickly erected large tents in the parking lots of their destroyed stores and commenced operation almost immediately.

Since Build Day, the playground at War Memorial is in constant use by kids from Pass Christian and the surrounding communities.  During Anniversary Week, KaBOOM! will return to build a football field at Pass Christian High School.  Football is one of the most popular sports in Pass Christian, yet the football team severely lacks adequate facilities.

 

The air at KaBOOM! is thick with excitement, energy and anticipation as we prepare for one of our largest and most important blitz-build projects in our ten-year history.  To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and to let the Gulf Coast know that the rest of the country has not forgotten then, KaBOOM! will be building ten playgrounds in less than one week in Gulf Coast communities affected by the storms.  We couldn't do it without the help of our partners, The Home Depot, Playworld Systems and The Hands On Network.

Last December, at the first Operation Playground build in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Mayor Eddie Favre remarked to a crowd of over 600 Build Day volunteers, "There's a lot we can't do right now, but this is something we can do."  Build Day in Bay St. Louis focused on the community's success, accomplishments and first step on the road to rebuilding.  The playground project raised community morale by focusing on the positive, rather than what still needed to be done and the lack of progress since the storms.

Since the first anniversary of the storms serves as a milestone for their progress, Gulf Coast communities' fear that the media will focus almost entirely on what hasn't been done in the past year.  Knowing that the lack of progress will garner a considerable amount of attention, KaBOOM! chose this week for our major playground project undertaking in hopes of drawing attention to the positive steps that communities' are making.  During anniversary week, how do you think the progress of the Gulf Coast will be portrayed?  What stories will receive the most attention from the media?