Wood Dale Community Joins Together To Build Playground
What happens when a group of more than 300 people comprised of parents, community members, police and fire department members and volunteers a local corporation come together? A playground can be built in less than one day. That's what happened October 4, when the community joined together to assemble a playground at Oakbrook Elementary School in Wood Dale.
The project was facilitated by KaBOOM, a national non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all kids receive a childhood filled with active play. Discover Financial Services was the community partner for the playground. In addition to providing the majority of the funding, Discover also provided hundreds of employee volunteers for the day. The Oakbrook playground was developed based on the drawings and feedback provided by the school's students who came together to illustrate their ideas dream play space. Funding was also provided through crowdsourcing and community donations organized by the School District and Parent Teacher Organization.
"It was a monumental task that was created today," said Joe Petrella, School District 7 Board of Education President. "With the help of KaBOOM; with the help of Discover Financial Services, and many other people within the community, we built a playground in less than five hours."
The project came together with volunteers dividing up into work groups. Some painted and assembled picnic tables, built the playground structure, or shoveled mulch to fill in the play area.
"It was a beautiful project and everyone did a great job," said Wood Dale Mayor Nunzio Pulice.
The former Oakbrook Elementary School playground was more than 25 years old and in need of repair, modernization and safety enhancements.