Some elements from these drawings will be incorporated into the new playground. Following the children’s design meeting, parents met with Hull to choose the actual pieces and colors for the playground, based on the children’s drawings.
On May 31, about 250 volunteers will spend six to seven hours installing the equipment for the playground, Naughton said .It will be located in the parking lot between the campus apartments, which are for formerly homeless families, and the new campus Family Success Center, which is also in its planning stages.
The Family Success Center will provide year-round programming that will focus on helping at-risk children academically as well as socially, said Linda Romine, director of communications for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.The society is renovating an existing 11,550 square-foot building on the campus to house programs for children ages six to 18, which will include a computer lab, space for afer-school tutoring, a game room, a cafe and culinary lab, a full-court gym and an outdoor garden, Romine said.
Naughton said the playground is important to the St. Vincent de Paul campus because of what it will add to the children’s lives. “In this immediate vicinity there are few places for kids to play. I really see it as a neighborhood enhancement for severely at-risk kids,” she said.
Bright said it’s tough to choose places to receive a playground but believes he could not have found a more worthwhile neighborhood.”When you look around at the work they do, it’s amazing,” he said. “I’m really glad there are people (such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul who are) “willing to help others.”
Leave a Reply