A new place to play at South Pointe Elementary

When the sun rose over South Pointe Elementary in Phoenix on December 4, there was a great open space. Before the sun set, students had a brand new playground! The new place to play was part of a collaborative effort between KaBoom!, Chrysler Foundation and The Leona Group.

With the help of more than 350 volunteers, the new playground was fully assembled from scratch in less than eight hours. Volunteers included South Pointe Elementary parents, community members, Leona school leaders, South Pointe High School students, members of the US Marines Corps, Leona corporate office staff, family and friends, representatives from the Chrysler Foundation, Arizona Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge Dealers, Chrysler Financial, Councilman Johnson’s office and the City of Phoenix.

Throughout the day, volunteers hauled more than 64,800 square feet of mulch by hand in tarps, mixed 20,000 pounds of concrete by hand in wheelbarrows and assembled the brightly-colored new play area. The structure was based on drawings provided by students who attended a design day in October. The playground was dedicated at 2:30 p.m. and the children expressed their gratitude to volunteers with special hand made “thank you” cards and through their beautiful smiles.