To The Leader

 

Volunteers from the Rebuild Texas Fund, Mauriceville Elementary School and the community will join KaBOOM! on Saturday, December 8 to transform an empty site into a kid-designed, state-of-the-art playground in just six hours at Mauriceville Elementary School. The new playground will help make play the easy choice for kids and families impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Orange.

 

In October, kids from the surrounding community came together to draw their dream playground. The playground is based off their drawings and will provide more than 1,300 kids in Orange with a great, safe place to play following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.

 

When hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on southeast Texas, not only did students lose their school, the playground that thousands of students through the years have used to refresh themselves and get ready to go back to class re-invigorated and ready to learn was totally decimated. With so many students having lost their homes, as well as their school, a place to play, unwind, and just be a kid is an important facet in the healing process.        

 

Ensuring kids have safe places to play is critical to helping families and communities heal during times of recovery, as they continue to deal with the stress of lost homes, lost loved ones and lost routines. By creating and providing playspaces, this work will help kids and communities continue to regain a sense of normalcy and make play an easier choice for families.

 

This playground project is part of a broader effort led by the Rebuild Texas Fund and KaBOOM! to serve communities affected by Hurricane Harvey by ensuring kids can get back to the business of childhood. It will be the ninth build by the partners. Overall, the partnership will lead 15 community-designed playground projects, and award 20 creative play products – Imagination Playground™ and Rigamjig – to organizations across 41 counties in Southeast Texas, providing new opportunities to play for more than 87,500 kids over the next generation.

 

WHEN:                       Saturday, December 8

• 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.            Kick-off ceremony
• 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.          Best viewing of playground construction
• 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.            Final construction phase
• 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.            Ribbon-cutting ceremony

 

WHERE:         Mauriceville Elementary School

• 20040 FM 1130
• Orange, TX 77632

 

WHO:             Hundreds of community volunteers

VIP names – final list not yet confirmed