- Published: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 02:32 PM
SPRINGFIELD, IL – State Senator Jacqueline Y. Collins (D-16th) joined with 250 volunteers and BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois at last Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for a playground built in a day. The playground, the one hundredth installed in Chicago by KaBOOM!, will give children attending before- and after-school programs at Auburn-Gresham’s Lots of Love Community Center a safe place for unstructured physical activity and imaginative play.
KaBOOM! works with community stakeholders and businesses like BlueCross, which donated the Lots of Love playground, to bring playgrounds to places where children have few opportunities for outdoor recreation. The building process, described as an “urban barn-raising,” brings together hundreds of local volunteers, community leaders and employees of generous businesses to install the playground in about six hours.