Playground, unlike Rome, put together in one day

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/08/2003 (8101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROME may not have been built in a day, but that’s how long it took to build Ecole Tuxedo Park’s new playground, thanks to about 200 community volunteers.

“When the kids come back to school in the fall, it’s there for them,” says Wendy French, co-chairwoman of the Tuxedo school’s parent council, noting that about 80 per cent of the nursery to grade 6 French immersion school’s 180 students ride the school bus to class.

The $110,000 project was one of 30 projects (15 in Canada) sponsored by a U.S. organization called KABOOM!. French describes it as a ‘directed community sweat equity initiative’ where the organization provides guidance on the project and the community provides the people power.

KABOOM! and Home Depot provided over $25,000 to support the project. Other funding included: $35,000 from the City of Winnipeg Community Incentive Grant program; over $11,000 raised by the school in chocolate sales, raffles and other fund-raisers; and over $18,000 from Pembina Trails School Division.

Among the volunteers who turned out on Aug. 7 were parents, community members and about 50 soldiers from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry on Kenaston Boulevard, including some cooks who barbecued lunch for the volunteers. Everyone came together on Aug. 7 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and created a bright new playground. The site was prepared a couple of days earlier with a bobcat levelling the surface and an auger digging the holes for the new play structure.

Now the playground space left vacant by the recent removal of the ancient wood play structure is history.

“It’s very exciting,” says French. “The big, bright child-centred play structure, tire swings, a climbing wall, triple slide, everything. And we are the first school in our division to have a wood fibre base rather than pea gravel underneath. It has a mattress effect. It’s a good surface.”

The assembly day was a learning experience for everyone, but once again Ecole Tuxedo Park seems to have had no trouble putting parents to work on their children’s school. After all, this is the school whose parents recently took it upon themselves to paint the interior, and where they also helped to create a beautiful outdoor classroom out front.

The parents heard about the KABOOM! program in May, and applied soon after that.

After the school was accepted for the program, KABOOM! representatives discussed designs with the students and parents. Plans were confirmed 10 weeks prior to the build date. Home Depot staff from across Canada took days off to help out on the project, the third of its kind to be completed in Canada to date.

“Now we have something with a lot of play value,” says French. “There is something here for all students of all ages and levels of ability and we can share it with Tuxedo Community Centre. This is a benefit for the whole community.”

French says it was hot and sunny on the day the structure was assembled, but she says it was well worth the effort.

“It went really well. It was so exciting. It was wonderful. I have never been involved in anything like it, but now we have a fantastic play structure.”