New Orleans playground build broadcast on CNN

KaBOOM!, which has directly facilitated the building of more than 1,400 playspaces across North America since its inception in 1995, joined with CNN and Cox Communications to build a playground at Pontiff Park in New Orleans in just one day on June 28 to provide more than 10,000 children with a great place to play. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta participated in the build, which was covered as part of CNN’s Fit Nation programming, a multi-platform initiative to stop obesity.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with CNN in this endeavor,” KaBOOM! CEO and co-founder Darell Hammond said. “We’re optimistic that promoting healthy and active lifestyles with CNN will produce positive change on multiple fronts. There’s no question that increasing the amount of time children play on a playground is a critical component to our goal of improving fitness and health.”

The build was featured on CNN’s House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a program dedicated to the latest health and medical developments and airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 to 8 a.m. (CT), as well as Fit Nation segments across the network’s properties. The playground build also marks the first CNN Fit Nation activity in 2008. CNN’s Fit Nation initiative began in 2006 as an ongoing multi-platform initiative to stop obesity and encourage healthier lifestyles. Over the past two years, Fit Nation and Gupta have traveled across the country engaging people in their own communities to get more active and develop local programs to meet the challenges of being overweight. [More]

View photos from the 100th build
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View photos from the first 100 builds

The 100th Operation Playground project happened Saturday, June 14 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park in Bay St. Louis, fulfilling a commitment KaBOOM! made to build 100 playgrounds in the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Our partners for this special build were the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Fannie Mae, the Foundation for the MidSouth, the Hancock Housing Resource Center and the City of Bay St. Louis. [Read more]

100th Operation Playground build in the news:

Good Morning America - Operation Playground

WLOX TV - KaBoom Completes Their 100th Playground

Biloxi Sun Herald - KaBOOM! celebrates 100th playground

Couple weds at 99th Operation Playground build

On Saturday, June 7, in 95˚ heat, KaBOOM! had its 99th build in the Gulf Coast -- and a Build Day wedding! -- at Life Academy, a preschool program of the Resurrection of Life Church in Picayune, Miss.

Volunteers kept busy assembling the play structure, rock blocks, slither slide, adventure bridge, and Freddy Firetruck, plus shade structures, butcher block benches and picnic tables...until 10 a.m., when everyone was told to put down their tools because it was time to go to the wedding being held on the build site!

The ceremony took place about 50 yards from the playground. The bride and groom, Chris Utter and Roxie Zortman, were joined by friends, family, and all 130 build volunteers, the vast majority of whom were members of the church. When the attendees realized there wasn’t music, they all hummed ‘Here Comes the Bride’ as the bride walked down the makeshift aisle. [More]

Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Fannie Mae and KaBOOM! team up to build 15 new playspaces
Hundreds of volunteers from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Jackson and George Counties, Fannie Mae, the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, organizers from KaBOOM! and community members joined forces on Saturday, Apr. 19 to build a new, safe playground at the Mary Ruddiman’s Unit in Ocean Springs, Miss.

This new playground’s design is based on drawings provided by children who attended a Design Day event in February, and will provide more than 300 children in the community a safe place to play. Currently, there are no public playgrounds near the site.

This playground marks the first of more than 15 playspaces to be built by KaBOOM!, the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Fannie Mae in 2008. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation is the administrator of the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, which was established by the governor immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Fannie Mae began its partnership with KaBOOM! in 2007, and together we built eight playspaces in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. [Read more]

Volunteer blogs about Operation Playground Build Experience

"Call me naïve, call me ignorant, but I grew up in suburbs, and for the first 23 years of my life I never thought twice about the fact that the elementary school I attended in Atlanta (and the two my brothers attended in Connecticut) had playgrounds. They were simply always there—taxpayer-funded I’d imagine—and if something is always there one tends to take it for granted until one learns better. I learned better when I recently volunteered at a KaBOOM! build in New Orleans..." [Read more]

KaBOOM! salutes outstanding New Orleans volunteer Linda Prout
On Saturday, March 8, New Orleans resident Linda Prout participated in her 16th Operation Playground project in the city! Linda's first build was in September, 2006, at the International School and she has been a dedicated volunteer ever since. A teacher for 25 years, Linda says she appreciates the value of play and loves seeing the playgrounds where she worked filled with joyful playing children. Her favorite Build Day moment? Last year during Mardi Gras when the King of Zulu came and spoke at the build at McDonogh 32, his former elementary school. The reaction of the children and volunteers was something she'll never forget!

KaBOOM! salutes Linda Prout for her incredible dedication to our cause. Our work would not be possible without amazing volunteers like her! Learn more about Linda.