On Sunday, SAP America, Central Florida Urban League, Pine Hills Safe Neighborhood Partnership joined with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit that helps create play-spaces through community participation, to construct a new playground at the Central Florida Urban League Park at Belco Drive in Pine Hills.
During the Build Day, more than 300 volunteers worked in 85 degree temperatures virtually non-stop for about six hours to lively music, building a colorful and exciting new playground for more than 200 children that live in the Pine Hills and surrounding neighborhoods.
Everyone, including more than 300 teachers who pitched in for a couple hours, worked tirelessly at tasks from carrying and spreading 2 tractor-trailer loads of surfacing mulch, mixing and pouring thousands of pounds of concrete, to transporting, screwing and hammering planks of woods for constructing the playground.
At the end of the day, the result was a red, blue and yellow play-space that features slides, swings, see-saws and a mini rock climbing wall. In addition, volunteers worked on “side projects” to enhance the playground, including painting picnic benches and tables and putting in flower boxes and planters. The new playground’s design was based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day in April.
“Today is a wonderful day and we are very thrilled with the level of participation,” said Shellie-Ann Minnis, Head of Community Relations of Central Florida Urban League. “The new playground will provide hundreds of children in the Orlando community with a safe place to play, enhance their creativity and improve the quality of life for families in the Pine Hills and surrounding communities.”
The 5-acre site on which the playground is constructed, was designed to become a park in 2006. The KaBOOM! playground is the first step in the area’s transformation.
The playground at the Central Florida Urban League Park, is the 14th built by KaBOOM! and SAP America, in an effort to fight the Play Deficit and save play.
