HEAVY LIFTING. Volunteers at Tacoma’s Morgan Family YMCA work together to lift a piece of slide to be installed in the new play area. Home Depot supplied the majority of the volunteers at the day’s event, including employees from Depots all over the county. (Photos by clare jensen)
One thousand days, 1,000 play spaces. That is the goal of the national nonprofit organization KaBOOM!
It may seem like an overly ambitious feat, but it is working at a pace of more than 200 new playgrounds a year, and five per day, one of which is at the Morgan Family Branch of YMCA in the West End. More than 200 volunteers showed up at the YMCA on South Pearl Street Aug. 30 to help construct a 2,500-square-foot play area in less than eight hours.
“(We) envision a great place to play within walking distance of every child,” said Patrice Wakeley, project manager for KaBOOM! “The YMCA fit the criteria of what our organization (looks for).”
The YMCA staff was contacted by KaBOOM! about eight weeks prior to the project to see if they were interested in the idea of a new playground.
The staff didn’t hesitate to submit a proposal and accept the offer.
“Thousands of kids use this site - hundreds every day,” pointed out Diana Comfort, healthy connections coordinator for the YMCA, “but we never had a playground. This just really meets our needs.”
The playground was installed in the former location of four tennis courts, which YMCA staff said were never used.
“We were already planning to do (re-do) that area,” noted Michael Ketcham, executive vice president for YMCA. “This just came together for us…and we already had the funds designated (to remove) the tennis courts.”
The play area was designed in part by local children who were asked to draw their “dream playgrounds” and allowed parents to play an active role in choosing playground components, right down to the color scheme.
“Tetherball was one thing all the kids wanted,” said Emily Tollefson, project director at the YMCA.
Aside from tetherball, swings sets were also a must-have for the children, noted Tollefson. The play area also includes a grassy area, “toddler-town” and other amenities such as park benches, a 16-by-16-foot deck and planted flowers.
The project is primarily funded through Home Depot, a company that works with KaBOOM! often to bring play areas to cities across the country, as well as about $7,000 in community donations.
Starbucks, Subway and Round Table Pizza donated snacks, lunch and beverages for the hard workers.
“We hope this launches a new point for involvement in the community,” said Wakeley, who also noted she hopes this project will spark more collaborations between Home Depot and organizations like the YMCA.
