Foundation leads effort for playground in Mississippi

Before the sun set on Dec. 13, the children who visit the Pascagoula, Miss., 12th Street Recreation Center each day got a great new place to play.

The new playground, which was fully assembled from scratch in less than eight hours, was built with the help of more than 200 volunteers from The Chrysler Foundation, Chrysler Financial, the city of Pascagoula, the Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, organizers from KaBoom! and residents of the local community.

Throughout the day, volunteers hauled more than 77,760 square feet of mulch by hand in tarps, mixed approximately 21,600 pounds of concrete by hand in wheelbarrows and assembled brightly colored playground equipment to bring the new play area to life.

Planning for the playground began at a Design Day event held in October. Local children and community leaders met with organizers from KaBoom! and Chrysler to design their “dream” playground. The children’s drawings were used to create the final playground design.

“The city of Pascagoula has long been known as Mississippi’s Flagship City. And now, thanks to all of the partners in this project, Pascagoula will have another flagship playground for the children of our community,” Darcie Crew, director of the Pascagoula Parks and Recreation. “The playground at the 12th Street Recreation Center serves not only the girls’ softball league, but the children throughout the neighborhood surrounding the complex. Pascagoula is proud to have this opportunity to enhance this playground as the city continues to promote healthy, exciting recreational options to benefit our children.”

The project is the 22nd playground to be built across the country this year by KaBoom, The Chrysler Foundation, and Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge dealers. The playground is also one of more than 215 KaBoom! will build across the country this year in an effort to provide an enjoyable place to play within walking distance of every child in America.