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Chimborazo Playground wins KaBOOM! grant

The Friends of Chimborazo Playground found out yesterday that they have been selected for a KaBOOM! playground: they will be getting a nifty new playground this fall! They need community help to make this happen, though….

The Friends of Chimborazo Playground completed the grant process and was selected for a KaBOOM! playground today. The funding partner will be the Home Depot. We’re very grateful to Amy Beem, Home Depot store manager and a Church Hill resident, for recommending us to KaBOOM!

How It Works
KaBOOM is a national nonprofit organization that works with communities and funding partners to build playgrounds. The funding partner covers more than 70% of the project costs. A small portion of playground equipment costs will be paid by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Facilities. The community (that’s us!) provides volunteers, food, and tools for the project. We need as many neighbors as possible to participate, especially parents. Here are the important dates (determined by KaBOOM and the funding partner):

Design Day – Thursday, July 16, 4 – 8pm – From 4 – 5 pm, kids will get creative and draw pictures of their “dream playground”. We hope to have as many kids there as possible. Afterwards, parents and other community members will work with the KaBOOM team to turn dream into reality and design the playground, selecting equipment, and discussing side projects, like possible plantings/landscaping, etc. More details on food, location and babysitter help coming soon. Please try to be there if you can!

Build Day – Wednesday, September 9 – Mark your calendars! We need 75 volunteers from the community to help build the playground. Like an old-fashioned barn raising, the playground goes up in one day. Unfortunately, it’s a week day. So plan a vacation day if you’re able, or if you work for VCU, you may be eligible for up to 16 hours of community service time. Thanks to a few folks who’ve already signed up. If you can be there, let us know.

We also need folks to help in other ways:

• recruit volunteers
• a youth leader – someone who can make thank you signs with kids, and help get kids involved in the project
• tool sleuth – someone who can help us locate and borrow hand tools for build day (no power tools allowed)
• fundraising
• food
• logistics
• public relations
• safety