JOPLIN, Mo. —
Ideas ranged from castles to a volcano, but there was a clear consensus for slides and monkey bars among youngsters who got the opportunity Thursday to offer design suggestions for a new playground for the Joplin Head Start Center at 1200 N. Main St.
Some of the elements will be incorporated in the playground to be built as a cooperative project of KaBOOM!, with funding from the PNC Foundation.
More than 50 youngsters joined in the design effort, led by Naudy Martinez, an associate project manager with KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit that focuses on play for children. The PNC Foundation is part of PNC Financial Services Group.
“This is going to be a great addition for us,” said John Joines, executive director of the Economic Security Corp., which operates Head Start programs in the region.
The Joplin location was chosen because Head Start is serving more children in the wake of the May 22 tornado.
PNC Foundation funding normally is spent in cities that have offices of the PNC Financial Services Group, said Steve Smith, executive vice president of the firm’s operation in Overland Park, Kan.
“Joplin is about midway between our offices in the Kansas City area and Little Rock, and we had so many employees come here to volunteer after the tornado,” he said. “They wanted to do something for Joplin.”
He said workers wrote the grant that was submitted to the foundation, and they chose the Head Start program because one of the focuses of the foundation is early childhood development.
Dennis Seifers, a PNC vice president, said the foundation has pledged funding of $94,000 for the playground and an Imagination Playground in a Cart — containing huge rubber parts that can be configured in a variety of ways to let youngsters create their own play space — that was unveiled Thursday at the center.
He said workers from the company will join with local volunteers to build the playground in a six-hour period. He said the foundation and KaBOOM! have worked together on five playground projects in the past year.
Joines said local volunteers also will participate in the planning and will raise about $8,500 for the project.
After the May 22 tornado, Joines said, Head Start provided buses to transport the injured, then volunteers, and then opened the North Main Street location to provide emergency child care for infants and children. Currently, more than 200 Head Start students are served at the center.
Track record
KaBOOM! WAS FOUNDED by entrepreneur Darell Hammond and has built more than 2,000 playgrounds in the U.S.
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Related Photos
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Amanda Downum, of Joplin, and her son, 3-year-old Braedyn Nivens, work together on designing a “dream playground” Thursday at the Joplin Head Start Center. Some design elements from the children at the center are to be incorporated into a playground project to be undertaken by a national nonprofit and a financial company. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
Discussion
Head Start youngsters offer design for new playground
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