KaBOOM! playground build, Grand Rapids

Sara Maddox has lived in the Camelot Woods apartment complex for 10 years, and she loves the neighborhood.  It’s a diverse group of people, comprised of long-time residents, families in transition and single adults—and more than 200 children under the age of five. 

While the complex is adjacent to Camelot Park, that doesn’t mean much to Sara’s son Nicholas.  Although the park is grassy and spacious, the one piece of playground equipment that sits on it is falling apart, and has provided more splinters than happy memories to the children who attempt to play on it.

But all of that changed on May 4, when Alticor employees turned out in force to give the children of Camelot Woods a safe place to play.

As part of Alticor’s One by One Campaign for Children, we’ve forged a partnership with an organization called KaBOOM! that works with communities to build playgrounds in the hopes that every American child might have a safe place to play within walking distance of their home.  Alticor funded the playground build at Camelot Park, and teamed up community partner Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation to ensure that the project was a success. 

KaBOOM’s process involves neighborhood children to ensure that the final product meets their needs.  In early April, 32 children from Camelot Woods were invited to draw their “dream playground,” and KaBOOM! used their fantasies to lay the foundation of the park’s makeover.

While KaBOOM! playgrounds are assembled in a day, it takes a lot of preparation to make that one day a success.  Alticor found a wonderful neighborhood partner in the Church of the Servant, which is right down the street from Camelot Park.  The church provided parking and volunteers, giving people who live in the area a chance to make a difference for the children in their community.

At nine a.m., 150 employees from Personal Care, Cosmetics, Pressure Packaging, Liquids, Plastics, Powder and Paper Products arrived via bus at Camelot Park.  Team leaders from their departments had been busy at the site for the past two days, prepping the grounds and digging holes for the new equipment, and they’d picked up some interesting outfits along the way.  Sporting purple KaBOOM! work vests along with crowns, pig hats, fancy glasses – even a pair of coconuts – team leaders Ken Afman, Michelle Edison, Bob Ford, Gordie Meekhof, Ray Merrills, Steve Pett, Dolen Smith, Nick Tap and Steve Waldron worked hard to make the day fun as well as productive.

Volunteers spent the day assembling playground equipment, resurfacing a basketball court, painting the Camelot Woods Community Center, resetting benches and moving 4,455 cubic feet of engineered wood fiber—all alongside Alticor Chairman Steve Van Andel. And keeping in mind that old adage about all work and no play, everyone—Steve included—made time to groove to the musical stylings of Global Services’ employee Monique Doolittle, who volunteered her time to make the day seem like one big party.

“What a wonderful day.  To be out here in the sunshine working alongside great people for a good cause… it’s a privilege,” said Steve of his experience.

After a few hours of hard labor, volunteers dug into a delicious lunch provided by Applebee’s, surveyed their progress, and went back to work.  Stephanie Nelson, the on-site KaBOOM! project manager had high praise for our employee volunteers, commenting, “this is one of the best, if not the best volunteer groups I’ve ever worked with.”

All day long, Sara sat with Nicholas and a neighboring family and watched as the playground came to life before their eyes.  “Can we play now? Now? Now?,” became a constant refrain as the kids too young for school saw their new swing set, slide and forts installed.  For Sara, the playground is a particular blessing, as she is her son’s sole caretaker while her husband is on his second tour of duty in Iraq.  “The kids need a safe place to play,” she shared. “They’ll spend hours here.”

As the day wore on and the 4 p.m. ribbon cutting approached, the volunteers found a new source of encouragement as school buses began pulling into the complex and dropping children off.  Kids began to surround the perimeter of the project, eyes wide as they realized that all of the people were working to build something just for them.

By 3:45 p.m., the work was done.  The volunteers were so enthusiastic that a group even went over to the Church of the Servant and weeded and spread mulch.  With the playground assembled and installed, the basketball court resurfaced, the community center painted and beautiful flowers planted, it was time for the group picture.  As 250 employee and community volunteers threw their hands up and shouted KaBOOM!, the children watching cheered in appreciation.

Mayor George Heartwell participated in the dedication, and thanked everyone involved for a job well-done. “It’s so wonderful to see what a corporation, a city and a neighborhood can do when we work together. This is more than a playground… it’s a testament to the partnerships that made it possible.”

The playground at Camelot Park will provide hours of fun, safe entertainment for the children of Camelot Woods for years to come.  But in the end, it wasn’t the playground itself that moms like Sara were most thankful for.  It was realizing that people genuinely care about the children in our community, and are willing to spend time and money to make a difference in their lives.

“It’s amazing to me that this company, that this group of people, is doing all of this for our kids.  All of this work – for us.  Wow.”  And as for Nicholas, his eyes sparkled as he asked one final time, “Can we play now?”  Finally, the answer was yes.

 

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