Inner-City School Playground: Green in the City Laura Secord
Children’s education is a really important topic for me. While I teach at the higher levels, I have nieces and nephews of grade-school age, and I am outraged at some of the news I’ve been hearing on elementary school closures.
My friend Kate Milberry alerted me to a fundraising campaign project that her kids’ school (Laura Secord Elementary School) is putting together for a seismic upgrade. And they need YOUR votes! This Aviva Fund campaign is particularly relevant as
From the proposal:
Laura Secord School is located in East Vancouver in an inner-city neighborhood with a diverse mix of cultures and families actively invested in their community. The school began a seismic upgrade of our 88-year-old building in December 2009. Almost all of the existing playground equipment had to be torn down to make way for portable classrooms to house a student body of 650 elementary school students. All that remains for intermediate students is 1 basketball hoop, 2 swings and an old wooden structure. The school has had to implement separate recesses for primary and intermediate grades because of a lack of space and safety issues. We would like to see our kids be able to play together as a unified group again.
As my friend Kate says, and I agree completely, the real story is really about improving the green quality of their urban space and building community around physical activity, play and nature. From what Kate tells me, “the great thing about the playground is that it will be for the entire community (not just Secord kids/families) – a real place of community outdoors (and wheelchair accessible too).
I love their motto: “I take care of myself, I take care of others, I take care of this place.” You can vote for this project on the Aviva Fund page (requires registration, but it’s a simple enough process). Please consider voting for them! Vote now!
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sounds great! super easy.
Thanks again for your support Raul… We are wrangling our school community into the 21st century and social-media-for-good!! There are *so* many worthy projects – it almost makes it hard to vote for my own!! This foundation is amazing.
And here is our fancy new Playground Project website!!! http://supportourplayground.org/ We are now #6 thanks to you Raul!!
KateM recently posted..Toronto G20 security cams down
Thanks so much for your support Raul. We’ve just put up a new website to support our drive and make it easier for people to vote as well as get to know us.
http://SupportOurPlayground.org
Thanks again for helping us spread the word!!