Healing Communities Through Play
(This article originally appeared in Playground Professionals)
On June 9, 2017 the Play4ALL campaign of Cunningham Recreation, GameTime's exclusive representative in Illinois, accomplished its third Healing Communities Through Play ™ project in Rockford, IL. Together with the Rockford Parks Dept., Rockford PD, County Sheriff’s office, and Sharefest volunteers, a brand new playground was built in Levings Park. Local installer, Custom Playgrounds, generously donated their labor and equipment to prep the land and to supervise the volunteer driven build.
"The Healing Communities playground build was a great success. The project brought together a variety of members of the community to renovate a playground in need of rejuvenation. I’m grateful for the support and assistance from the volunteers, both Sharefest and law enforcement, Custom Playgrounds, GameTime and Cunningham Recreation. We couldn’t have done it without them. Many hands truly do make light work," says Tom Lind, LA for Rockford Park District.
Law enforcement came out in droves and stayed throughout the day to ensure that the job was complete. Local children could not wait for the remaining safety surfacing to be laid before dangling, sliding and swinging on the play elements. The teaming up of these sectors is paramount to the success of a Healing Communities project.
To learn more about PLAY 4 ALL, and how they can help you bring more play and fitness projects to your community, visit www.play4allcampaign.com.
