KaBoom! Comes To Pascagoula

South Mississippi Living, May 2008
by Susan Stachowski

Play is exploding all over the Gulf Coast thanks to KaBOOM! and the next big blast will be felt at Cherokee Elementary School. After unrelenting efforts by the faculty, staff and administration of the kindergarten through fifth grade school along with the tireless efforts of its Parent Teacher Organization, the dream of having a new playground is becoming a reality.

KaBOOM! representatives along with other community partners involved with the building of this playground site visited Cherokee in February to get a layout of the playground area and to talk with the students. The children were able to draw pictures of what they hoped to have in the new playground and then the teachers and parents used that information to design the playground. Justin Fitzgerald is the project manager for KaBOOM! and the funding partners are Fannie Mae and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community Foundation.

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Playground comes together in a day

By Karen Voyles
Sun staff writer
May 9, 2008

Excerpt:

The playground adjacent to the Boys & Girls Club in the Sugar Hill neighborhood used to offer children a few swings and a seldom-used ball field while the club building provided indoor activities like foosball.

By the end of the day Thursday, bright new playground equipment had been installed, dugouts built for the ball field, the inside of the clubhouse repainted, gardens established and many other jobs completed to create an inviting play space that is accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.

The work was coordinated through KaBoom, a national nonprofit organization that has spent the last three years partnering with Home Depot and communities nationwide to build 1,000 playgrounds in 1,000 days. "We figured we had 1,000 done, we should keep going," said Matt Kaftor, an associate project manager for KaBoom. "Our goal is to empower communities to build playgrounds. We have criteria so that we work on those with the highest need."

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Discuss your Build Day experiences in the Forums!

ALBERTSONS Helps Children and Elite Athletes STEP BEYOND Gold(TM) in the Spirit of the Games

May 7 - Albertsons, a SUPERVALU company, announced today that they will be providing up to one million dollars to support the athletic dreams of our country's current and future athletes this summer. As part of the STEP BEYOND Gold(TM) program, Albertsons has identified four elite women's athletic teams -- USA Women's National Water Polo, USA Softball Women's National Team, U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and USA Women's National Volleyball Team -- to receive funding support. A portion of the funds raised will also support Southern California and Southern Nevada future athletes by providing access to physical activity opportunities through youth organizations including The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation, HOPSports, LA Galaxy Foundation and KaBOOM!.

Between May 7 and August 24, 2008, every time an Albertsons shopper uses their Preferred Savings Card, Albertsons will donate a portion of their purchase to these teams and children's charities, up to one million dollars. And if the customer purchases a product from Albertsons' new organic and natural line, Wild Harvest, Albertsons will double that donation. Albertsons created the STEP BEYOND Gold(TM) program as a way to engage its customers in the excitement of the upcoming summer games and enable them to be able to directly support the country's top female athletes and our athletes of tomorrow. Albertsons customers also win by receiving a 5% Savings Award every time they accumulate $250 in spending with their Preferred Savings Card, through July 4.

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Cherokee volunteers make KaBOOM! history
Monday, April 28, 2008
By SUSAN STACHOWSKI
Mississippi Press

PASCAGOULA -- More than 300 volunteers showed up on the campus of Cherokee Elementary Friday morning to build the Ka-BOOM! playground, and the 8-hour workday was cut in half.

As the sun rose over the campus, activity had already begun with volunteers digging holes, moving mulch and building benches.

Justin Fitzgerald, Ka-BOOM! project manager, was amazed with the volunteer turnout and energy.

"This turnout is just amazing and so is the energy being displayed," Fitzgerald said. "I just had 145 cubic yards of mulch moved in less than an hour. That never happens. We are better than on schedule."

...

Working alongside Fitzgerald was Sarah Pinsky, director of Operation Playground. She agreed with Fitzgerald saying that even early in the morning, this was one of the fastest builds ever.

"It's not just the number of volunteers who came out today, but how hard everybody is working," Pinsky said. "We have had a lot of people come out for builds before but never to move as quickly as these are doing."

...

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Learn more about Operation Playground

A place to play
By Matt Sloane
CNN
May 2, 2008

I had one of the most rewarding experiences of my CNN career Wednesday, and it involved 40 children, about as many parents and some homemade jambalaya at a senior center in Louisiana.

“It starts with a playground” is the slogan for KaBOOM, a national non-profit organization that builds playgrounds. KaBOOM is our newest partner in the fight against childhood obesity. For those 40 kids, and even the parents in the room, it really does all start with a playground.

...

That’s where CNN Fit Nation comes in. For us, it started with a phone call to KaBOOM, and six months later I found myself sitting at this senior center, watching the kids draw their dream playground with crayons. From those drawings, the parents and I sat with KaBOOM staffers and picked the playground equipment that best fit the kids’ drawings. Two months from now on June 28, we’ll all meet in Metairie to build it, in a shade under 6 hours.

As the parents and adults thanked me for CNN’s contribution to their community, I asked all of them for something in return - to use this new playground and to get their children moving and to teach them how to stay healthy well into adulthood.

...

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Learn more about our work combatting childhood obesity
Learn more about Operation Playground

An Invitation to Child’s Play: Big Blocks and Wheelbarrows
By DIANE CARDWELL
Published: May 4, 2008
New York Times

It is the playground of the future, already in beta mode in New York City and coming soon to empty lots, day care centers and even suburban backyards across the country.

Instead of monkey bars and jungle gyms, there are blue and white blocks to stack into high walls or to connect as sluices and walkways.

In place of swing sets and seesaws, there are wheelbarrows and rolling carts to move materials about.

And while there are still the familiar elements of sand and water, they are no longer there to be shoveled and splashed so much as turned into landscapes of fanciful design.

The idea began with the architect David Rockwell’s desire to create a more engaging play space for his children — and others — on a parking lot near the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan. Construction of that playground is to begin in July. But the concept has expanded to include portable collections of Mr. Rockwell’s play gear that can be used in playgrounds around the city, starting with one in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn this summer.

Next, Mr. Rockwell plans to bring his novel approach to cities around the nation through a partnership with the nonprofit playground developer Kaboom.

“Play is on the decline in the United States, and frankly, kids’ creativity is on the decline in the United States,” said Darell Hammond, the founder of Kaboom, which is working with Mr. Rockwell to manufacture and distribute the custom-designed loose parts, which experts say encourage more imaginative, child-directed play than fixed structures do. “We’re betting our future on this concept, that this concept is going to — in generations or decades — make better kids.”

...

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Learn more about our partnership with the Rockwell Group and Imagination Playground!

FROM:  Rockwell Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARCHITECT DAVID ROCKWELL & KaBOOM! COLLABORATE ON NEW GENERATION OF “FREE PLAY” SPACES TO BE BUILT ACROSS THE U.S.

Anticipate Over 1,000 Imagination Playgrounds Across the Country Within Five Years

Partnership to Encourage Play and Creativity – First “Playground in a Box” to be Installed In Brownsville, Brooklyn

May 5, 2008 (New York, NY) – Architect David Rockwell of Rockwell Group and KaBOOM!, the foremost national not for profit dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of children, today announced a partnership to develop and implement a new generation of playspaces across the United States, based on the play value concepts of Imagination Playground, the Rockwell Group’s design for a playground in lower Manhattan. 

The Rockwell Group created Imagination Playground, which will break ground this summer, to embody the concept of unstructured, child directed “free play,” where children direct their own activities, alone and with their peers.  The Rockwell Group has worked closely with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation on the initiative.

“We have always hoped to make the Imagination Playground concept available to communities nationwide,” said David Rockwell, founder and CEO of Rockwell Group.  “We could not be more thankful to KaBOOM! for helping make that dream a reality.”

KaBOOM! has spent 12 years building playspaces using a community build model, where they partner with corporations, foundations and private donors.  Creating opportunities and tools for building playgrounds, KaBOOM! will extend their play platform by incorporating the Imagination Playground model into an expandable collection of its trademark parts to supplement existing playgrounds and form the basis for new playspaces. 

"KaBOOM! believes that play is a matter of national importance.  We can't wait to bring some of the most innovative, yet old-fashioned concepts in play back to children across the country.  By adding sand, water, loose parts, and play associates to what KaBOOM! already offers, we're going to revolutionize your neighborhood playground," said Darell Hammond, co-founder and CEO of KaBOOM!

Among her many accomplishments, listed in this article, is helping to coordinate a KaBOOM! playground build at Gautier Elementary School on Jan. 19, 2008.

Volunteers put playground up
Students had role in design
By Jay Hughes
Sun Herald
Apr. 26, 2008

Excerpt:

Jerry Jackson, a team leader in electrical design engineering at Chevron, said his 12-year-old son graduated Cherokee last year and his 5-year-old will attend next year, so he didn't mind giving up his scheduled day off to help mix cement.

"It was the right thing to do," he said. "I'd take a day off to do it. It's that important."

Students were part of the process, also. Each had the chance to place one piece of tile in a mosaic under construction, and Bankston said they also painted trash cans and bricks for a walkway.

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Discuss your playground building experiences in the Forums!

April 24, 2008
Victoria L. Coman
The Birmingham News

Epic Elementary will sparkle with colorful pieces of plastic, metal bars and the spirit of volunteers Friday as it gets a playground in one day.

KaBOOM! is coming to Epic to help return playground equipment to the south Birmingham school's campus. The new playground will include swings, ladders and a climbing wall.

In March 2007, parents and faculty tore out the wood and rubber equipment and began raising money for a new playground. The old equipment had been around since at least the 1970s. Children were getting splinters, and nuts and bolts were coming loose, said Principal Vickie Stokes.

...

On Feb. 14, the school's students, parents and faculty came up with ideas for the playground. Officials from KaBOOM!, the Junior League of Birmingham and the Charity League of Birmingham also gave ideas, Stokes said. Such idea sessions are common practice for KaBOOM! projects.

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Academy Of Country Music and The Home Depot select country music group Rascal Flatts to receive Humanitarian Award

Award to be presented during the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards to air live from MGM Grand in Las Vegas Sunday, May 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS

ENCINO, Calif. (April 17, 2008) – The Academy of Country Music and The Home Depot announced today that multi-platinum country music group Rascal Flatts will be the 2008 recipient of the Academy of Country Music/The Home Depot Humanitarian Award, to be presented during the 43rd Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards ceremony honoring country music’s best and hottest emerging talent. The show will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 18, 2008 at 8:00 PM live ET/delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

In its seventh year, the Humanitarian Award recognizes country music artists who serve others, have a generous spirit and help build the dreams of those in need. The members of Rascal Flatts – Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox and Joe Don Rooney – were selected by a special blue-ribbon committee comprised of executives in the country music industry as well as local and national philanthropic leaders for their ongoing community service and charitable giving of their time and talent.

“We have been blessed with some incredible successes in our career the past couple of years,” said Rooney. “The most rewarding thing for us is the opportunity to give back to our communities. We’d like to thank The Home Depot and the Academy for recognizing us in such a humbling way.”

As the recipient of the Humanitarian Award, Rascal Flatts will receive a beautiful crystal trophy designed by Tiffany & Co. during the live CBS telecast. They will also be honored with a playground donated by The Home Depot and the Company’s national nonprofit partner KaBOOM!, which envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. The playground will be built by The Home Depot volunteers and community members in the city of Rascal Flatts choice. Past recipients of the Humanitarian Award include Brooks & Dunn, Vince Gill, Lonestar, Martina McBride, Neal McCoy and Reba McEntire.

Year-Round, All-Ages Play Highlights Yuma's 'Playful City USA' Status

By Larry Nelson
Mayor, City of Yuma, Ariz.

U.S. Mayor magazine - Apr. 7, 2008
Reprinted with permission

Yuma Mayor Larry Nelson

Yuma’s participation in KaBOOM’s Playful City USA initiative, which is a national recognition program that honors cities and towns across the nation for “creating an agenda for play,” not only placed the city in elite company across the nation, but provided many other benefits as well. Those include improvements in planning and public participation and increasing awareness for Parks and Recreation and its role in how citizens play.

But perhaps most important is that this campaign allowed Yuma residents—and the world—to learn that the “we” in “We Play the Yuma Way” is everybody—from the very young to the very old. And the “way” is every day—365 days a year.

Yuma’s a ‘Playful City’ for everybody, all year round. Playing in Yuma starts at a very young age—virtually all ages can play in Yuma, from young kids to senior citizens: from the ‘tot lot’ at our Stewart Vincent Wolfe Creative Playground and our recreation programs for toddlers all the way up to the seniors who run and walk on our paths and in our 5K/10K’s...

Playful City USA: El Paso

Watch El Paso's video

From the March 2008 issue of Texas Town & City magazine
Reprinted with permission

Play among children is on the decline throughout the United States. Childhood obesity rates have more than doubled in the last 20 years. Increasingly, children lack a safe and enjoyable playground within walking distance in their neighborhood.

In an effort to improve the state of play, the national non-profit organization KaBOOM! launched its Playful City USA initiative in 2007 as part of its National Campaign for Play. In October, KaBOOM! announced the 31 founding Playful City USA communities. Cities like Atlanta and San Francisco made the cut. But so did communities like Wapello, Iowa (population 2,200) and Shirley, Mass. (population 7,600).

The lone representative from the Lone Star State was El Paso.

And the city is extremely proud.

“After this designation, and being the only city in Texas that was honored, El Pasoans are very proud and joyful that the city has received such recognition and that this will help lead the way on other future promotional and tourism related opportunities,” El Paso Recreation Services Manager Joe Rodriguez said.

To Rodriguez, who was instrumental in the application process, it was common sense that El Paso should apply to be recognized for the city’s efforts. El Paso had previously made a commitment to providing a substantial amount of open space to its residents and the Playful City USA program matched the city’s ideals.

“Here in El Paso, we have always known that we are a playful city due to our wonderful year-round sunny weather and our friendly and easy-going citizens,” Rodriguez said. “We have over 200 parks, 24 recreation centers and 14 swimming pools and when these facilities are open they are used to their fullest potential.”

PDF	Read the whole article

Learn more about Playful City USA

The Home Depot and KaBOOM! Celebrate 1,000th Playspace
$25 Million Campaign to Build or Refurbish 1000 Playspaces Reaches Milestone in April

Washington, D.C., April 9, 2008 - KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization whose vision is a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America, announces that The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, is its first partner to build or refurbish 1,000 playspaces. The Home Depot and KaBOOM! first committed to building 1,000 playspaces together in 2005.

“The Home Depot’s unprecedented participation in this initiative will enhance the physical, social and emotional well-being of children all over North America,” said Darell Hammond, CEO and Co-Founder, KaBOOM! “as we reach our 1,000th playspace build on April 10, 2008, I am truly astounded by the impact this partnership has made on communities across the nation.”

The 1,000th build will take place in Victory Park, in the City of Marietta, GA. The playground, built in partnership with the City of Marietta Parks & Recreation and the Marietta Kiwanis, will provide a safe, fun environment for children from the community and three nearby schools.

As the founding partner of KaBOOM! since 1995, The Home Depot provides financial support, materials and hundreds of volunteers for play space projects across North America.

Key facts:

• 1,000 playgrounds built or refurbished in 1,000 days
• $25 million invested by The Home Depot
• 954,435 volunteer hours donated by Home Depot associates
• 99,555 Team Depot volunteers participated
• 619,300 children served

Each playground built through this campaign was funded by a $47,200 grant by The Home Depot and a $10,000 contribution from the community partner receiving the playground. Other playspace programs included in this program include community challenge grants, field refurbishments, and skateparks. Once a community partner has been selected, the typical planning period leading up to Build Day is eight to 10 weeks. The project is led by the KaBOOM! project manager and build captains from The Home Depot and the community partner. On Build Day, approximately 150 volunteers from The Home Depot and 100 community volunteers join together to construct a new playground.

Jamison to help build playground in Shreveport, promote importance of play among children

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  As part of his ongoing efforts to provide “A Better Tomorrow” for children, NBA All-Star Antawn Jamison and national non-profit KaBOOM! announced a new partnership to encourage and promote play among children across the country.

KaBOOM!, an organization that empowers communities to build playgrounds, will team with Jamison to sponsor a playground build in his hometown of Shreveport in September of 2008 with the potential to build playgrounds in other areas in the future. Additionally, Jamison will serve as a KaBOOM! All-Star Playmaker – an extension of the Playmaker Network consisting of national leaders and celebrities who take action for play on behalf of KaBOOM!, while promoting the importance of play.

Jamison, whose “A Better Tomorrow” campaign has helped countless individuals across the country via scholarships, clothing and food donations and financial contributions, participated alongside hundreds of volunteers to build a KaBOOM! playground in just one day in New Orleans on Feb. 15 at the Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood and Family Learning Center in conjunction with the 2008 NBA All-Star Game. Inspired by the massive community involvement and the tangible result of a playground that will serve thousands of children, Jamison contacted KaBOOM! to facilitate building a playground in his childhood home of Shreveport.

“Encouraging children to play by building playgrounds is important to me because it not only allows a kid to be a kid, but it also helps bring entire communities together,” Jamison said. “Those are two of my biggest charitable goals. It seems that television and video games are making so many children grow up too quickly these days. Playing video games is fun but playing outside and interacting with other kids is where friendships are built and dreams are created.” 

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Weakness in Economy Isn’t Hurting Charities
New York Times, March 14, 2008

Despite the economic downturn and fears of recession, major charities say their fund-raising has not fallen off.

“We’re doing fine,” said Christina Walker, director of development at the Cleveland Orchestra. “We haven’t seen any effect yet.”

In fact, some 64 percent of the organizations that have responded so far to the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ annual survey on fund-raising have reported bringing in more money in 2007 than the year before.

“Our surveys tell us fund-raising has been holding steady,” said Paulette V. Maehara, the association’s president and chief executive, who emphasized that the findings for 2007 were preliminary and that in any case the environment could change over the course of 2008.

...

Darell Hammond, chief executive of KaBOOM!, a nonprofit group that builds and maintains playgrounds, said he and his senior management team were keeping a close eye on revenue to see what effect, if any, the organization would feel from economic weakness. The 12-year-old group has long been a favorite of corporate donors, and declines in corporate donations tend to be steeper during hard times than do reductions in gifts from other sources.

But Mr. Hammond said corporate support had so far remained strong, fortunately. Last year the organization embarked on an effort to diversify its financing sources, reaching out to foundations and individuals. Many foundations, he said, have since told the organization that they are not making any new commitments, and the first foray by KaBOOM! into direct mail, last fall, attracted just $50,000, a quarter of what it had expected.

“Whether that was due to the economy or just a measure of how tired people are of direct mail,” Mr. Hammond said, “I don’t know.”

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Talk about fundraising and more in our online Forums!

Orlando Sentinel
March 7, 2008

Dwight Howard just couldn't resist.

He may have been a little late -- there was this issue about attending practice first -- for the building of the new playground at the Santa Barbara Apartments on Aloma Avenue, but he still was the first to try out the shiny green slide after wedging his larger-than-normal frame into the chute.

No one told him it wasn't quite finished yet.

"If the playground brings a smile to the faces of all the kids here, that's better than any dunk, winning any slam-dunk contest, could be," he said. "It's good for everyone."

The Orlando Magic organization shut down its offices Friday -- except for the team practice -- and sent an estimated 200 employees to spend the day building the entire 40-x-100 foot playground, turning a muddy plot in the midst of the apartment complex into a children's paradise by the end of the day.

It was done in conjunction with KaBOOM!, the Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that provided the supervision. The Magic, though, paid the tab and provided all of the labor...

Read more

Learn more about KaBOOM!'s Team Play program

MACON, GA - I'm not sure every cloud has a silver lining. But those nasty nimbus clouds that dumped 20 inches of rain on us in July 1994 certainly did.

Of course, we had no way of realizing it at the time. A tropical storm named Alberto misbehaved on his jaunt through Georgia, unleashing the worst natural disaster in state history. Flooding from the storm killed 34 people and caused an estimated $1 billion in property damage.

History refers to it as the Great Flood of 1994, although there was absolutely nothing great about it - unless you're describing the magnitude of the mess left in its wake.

Fortune Magazine has a section on CNN's Money web site and has published a great article about what KaBOOM! is trying to do. Reporter Jennifer Reingold attended a playground build in North Philadelphia and really did a nice description of the day

Click here to read more.

You can see more photos from the day here.

Beltsville Girl's Gift to 'Katrina Kids'
Raising Money for Others, One Paper Fan at a Time

By Ovetta Wiggins
Washington Post Staff Writer
December 20, 2007

Seven-year-old Kamilah Bryant just wanted to help children devastated by Hurricane Katrina get their stuff back.

Last year, the Beltsville girl sat down with some colorful paper, crayons and markers and began making hundreds of accordion-style fans. Over the next several months, she sold them for $1 each at church and in the lobby of the Forestville apartment complex where her great-grandmother lived.

Kamilah Bryant, 7, decided last year that she would raise money for children affected by Hurricane Katrina by creating and selling fans.

Her ingenuity resulted in a $1,000 donation to a Washington-based nonprofit group called KaBoom, which used the money in October to purchase a new slide for a playground that the group built to bring smiles back to the faces of children in a New Orleans neighborhood.

...

Bob Nardelli    
Chairman and CEO, Chrysler

On Saturday, I had the privilege to be among a group of 325 volunteers who joined the nonprofit group Kaboom to build a playground for the children of the BEST Academy school in Highland Park.

We started early in the morning, warmed by coffee and the generous spirits of 200-plus Chrysler employees, 40 BEST volunteers and over 70 community members. We dug right in and built the main playscape structure, with the crowning glory, the long, twisty slide that took at least 10 of us to lift and mount.

You can read more here . To see photos of the build, check here .

BURBANK, CA – For the first time in its 30-year history, FAMILY FEUD is hooping it up and fast-breaking for charity with the special sweeps event premiere of NBA Players vs. NBA Mothers Week. The first of five daily episodes will begin airing in national syndication on Monday, November 12th (check local listings), just two weeks after the tip-off of the NBA's 62nd season.

Host John O’Hurley will be on-hand to referee super-sized NBA star sons Grant Hill (Phoenix Suns), Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Cuttino Mobley(L.A. Clippers), Richard Jefferson (New Jersey Nets) and David Lee (New York Knicks) as they go head-to-head against their normally camera-shy moms Janet Hill, Frieda Bosh, Sheryl Howard, Jackie Mobley, Meekness LeCato and Susan Lee. He’ll guide both teams through a series of fast-paced survey questions and answers, but there will be more at stake than family bragging rights -- thousands of dollars in prize money for NBA Cares Community Partners. All money won by the players will go directly to KaBOOM!, a nonprofit organization that helps communities across the country build playgrounds, while their mothers’ will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

You don't have to be an NBA player to help make sure the KaBOOM! vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every kid in America comes true. You can donate directly to KaBOOM! here . If you are more interested in donating time than money, then look around your neighborhood. Are there places to play? Check the KaBOOM! Playspace Finder . Are they "great" places to play? Get on the KaBOOM! forums and find out how you can make your neighborhood a great place to play. Become a Playmaker to make even more of an impact .

More than a year later, steady tears are still normal for Janet Bean.

She and John would have been married 25 years in September, but his devastating murder last year, kept the two from celebrating their silver anniversary.

"You never get over it," said Bean, as she wiped her eyes.

She also may never have closure as the murder remains unsolved.

Every day Wanda Simpson walks by the desk where her sister Vicky Lynn Stroud McGraw used to answer phones and think up new business ideas for Simpson's pool supply company.

It's been nearly seven years since Simpson's baby sister was brutally murdered and now someone else occupies the space.

Nevertheless, it will hold lasting memories of McGraw.

"Vicky was a people person," Simpson said. "She was very outgoing and full of life."

Thoughts of the murders often fuel tears of sadness for both Bean and Simpson, but on Oct. 25, it was thoughts of gratitude for the 250 or so volunteers and for country music duo Brooks and Dunn that spurred tears of joy.

See photos of the build here.

CLARKSTON, GA - Clarkston Community Center, 8 a.m.

A soccer field worn thin of grass, piles of 4-by-4 lumber, stacks of concrete blocks, a mountain of black wood mulch and 100 happy volunteers blowing steam into the crisp morning air.

By 4 p.m. last Tuesday, the transformation had taken place.

In spots where parents and kids stood in previous years in hot sunshine to watch soccer or basketball games, there are now eight shade-giving pergolas. Benches, planters and newly hammered-together garbage bins are scattered around the field.

Freshly painted murals on boards brighten the area, and concrete blocks make up new raised planting beds in the community garden.

When the drought and water restrictions end, the soccer field will be graded and resodded.

Mark off project 901 from the list of 1,000 refurbished public playgrounds in the United States.

Home Depot and KaBoom, a national nonprofit that builds playgrounds around the country, have 99 more to go before their deadline of Dec. 31.

NORTH FAYETTE, PA - An extra $10,000 for a North Fayette playground will help get kids in the swing of things, so to speak.

The nonprofit organization KaBOOM! has awarded the township a $10,000 grant to help build a playground in the $2 million, 34-acre community park that is under construction next to Donaldson Elementary School on Donaldson Road.

Parks and Recreation Director Bob Brozovich said he would add the money to the township's original $28,000 budget for the playground, for a total of $38,000.

"It'll make it a bigger and better facility there," Mr. Brozovich said. "It's not going to be the Taj Mahal, but it's going to make it a pretty nice one."

NEW ORLEANS, LA - The National Basketball Association today will announce a season-long, leaguewide community service program aimed at boosting the rebuilding effort in New Orleans in a year when the league plans to hold its marquee event, the 2008 All-Star Game, in the city.

The official announcement is expected to be made by NBA Commissioner David Stern in a news conference at Walter L. Cohen High School at 12:30 p.m. today, the same day the Hornets tip off the 2007-2008 regular season with a game against the Sacramento Kings at the New Orleans Arena.

"This program says that we're very committed to helping them rebuild and to the rebirth of the Crescent City," said Bob Lanier, a special assistant to the NBA commissioner. "The NBA truly cares. It's not just a slogan. We're committed to being difference-makers around the world."

The program will culminate with the first NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service on Friday, Feb. 15, an event in which more than 2,500 members of the league's representatives, including players, coaches, executives, media members and sponsors, will participate in daylong community service activities. The event will help tip off All-Star weekend in the city. The NBA All-Star Game will be played at New Orleans Arena on Sunday, Feb. 17.

Bosses try new ways to skip misfit hires

By Ellen Simon
Boston Globe
November 5, 2007

NEW YORK --A resume and a brief job interview can't answer the question that matters most to a new hire's co-workers: Is this person an absolute pain?

Despite a labor shortage in many sectors, some employers are pickier than ever about whom they hire. Businesses in fields where jobs are highly coveted -- or just sound like fun -- are stepping up efforts to weed out people who might have the right credentials but the wrong personality.

Call it the "plays well with others" factor.

...

At KaBoom, a nonprofit that builds playgrounds, the board was hammering co-founder and CEO Darell Hammond four years ago over the organization's high employee turnover.

"I rationalized that they were on the road too much, when in reality, it was the wrong fit in the wrong role," he said.

He started thinking about who left and why, then focused on the characteristics of workers who stayed. The list of traits: Can do, will do, team fit, damn quick and damn smart.

His team kept a closer eye on job applicants in the reception area, which is set up as a playground, to see how they acted around playground equipment.

"If you're early, you may have to sit on a swing or the bottom of a slide," Hammond said. People who stand with a tight grip on their briefcases instead of sitting on the playground equipment aren't asked back.

...