Moms Build a Playground!

More than a dozen mom bloggers came together last week, rolled up our sleeves and helped build a playground for the community of Inglewood, California on behalf of KaBOOM! and Kool-Aid.  I was thrilled to have been an integral part of the event - reaching out to some of my favorite writers and blogging community leaders from across the country and meeting some incredible women on the west coast - including fabulous Lifetime Mom and Bizzie Mommy, Stephanie Elie, who joined me for an amazing day with Reverend Run (aka Joseph Simmons), his beautiful wife Justine and their kids, as well as the community of Inglewood, who came together to transform a barren lot into an amazing playground for kids!

KaBOOM! is a national non profit organization dedicated to bringing play back into the lives of children.  Since it's founding in 1995, the organization has built more than 1700 playgrounds in disadvantaged communities nationwide.  And this past week, with the help of Kool-Aid, the organization set out to change the lives of children and families living in Inglewood, CA.  Kool-Aid has been a proud sponsor of the organization for several years, having teamed up on 27 playground builds and counting!

Armed with hardhats, red smiley face Kool-Aid shirts and construction gloves, we were put to work! Our first mission was to assemble a slide and I was joined by Jennifer James, Mommy Niri and Bizzie Mommy as we attempted to fit together the pieces of the slide without it toppling on us.  The hard part was we were so busy tweeting about our experience that it was tough to hold onto the slide and share a photo and document the play by play of our first task!  

Meanwhile, Kim at Traveling Mom and Carrie at Cruise Buzz joined a group of young firemen in training to assemble a bridge and ladder.  It seemed as if they were making tremendous progress on their project.  Meanwhile, Niri, Jennifer and I moved on to another task when one of our screws became stuck and we had to find an expert to help us get our slide back on track!  

While the slide was being examined by the experts, a KaBOOM! team member brought us over to a park bench that featured a beautiful sketch of a bridge, sea creatures and the ocean.  It was time to paint a mural...and instantly, more than half a dozen of us gathered around the bench and began to bring it to life.  Incidentally, one of the most talented artists on our blogger team was Ciaran Blumenfeld with Momfluential!  Ciaran spent her time recreating an octopus, sea horses and even Nemo!  I, on the other hand had fun mixing paint colors and discovered that dark blue and white make a pretty shade of lavender!

By the time the bench was complete, I was tapped for a very important job...mixing concrete!  Together, with Liz at Los Angelista, Ana at Spanglish Baby and YvonneinLA, we grabbed shovels and began some serious hard work.  After mixing three loads of concrete, my forearms were aching!   Meanwhile, Tina and her daughter at Send Chocolate were busy shoveling mulch along with Traveling Mom, Cruise Buzz and Andrea at Hip Moms Who Work. Meanwhile, Jennifer at Mom Bloggers Club carried flowers over to the pergola and garden that was being built adjacent to the playground. The one thing I loved was that all of us got to do things we had never tried before and before we knew it, the entire place miraculously took shape in front of our eyes.

While we took a much deserved In and Out Burger and Kool-Aid fun fizz break - Reverend Run and his family arrived and began contributing their time and hard work to the build too!   While Rev Run, his wife Justine and their kids settled in, they began painting a bench nearby and shoveling more mulch to add to the build.  Several of us then got the chance to meet the family and chat with Justine Simmons, who is a passionate mom who wanted to make sure her kids know about the importance of giving back to communities in need.  Plus, when she and Rev Run explained they had never heard of a mommy blog before and were so impressed by all of us, we convinced her that she should start a blog of her own! We got a chance to chat with Justine Simmons about her family and the KaBOOM! playground build and here's what she had to say: 

Beth Interviews Rev Runs Wife from Joseph Litzinger on Vimeo.

As the anticipation built, the children of Inglewood were escorted into the playground area and stood nearby for the exciting ribbon cutting ceremony.  As the Kool-Aid man burst through a paper brick wall, cheers erupted through the crowd as they viewed the spectacular playground that had been built by hardworking members of their own community. Within seconds, Rev Run cut the ribbon, the kids were ecstatic and couldn't wait to play!  And that is what happiness is all about!

For more information about KaBOOM! and how they are transforming playground spaces nationwide and encouraging families to host their own play days in their community, visit their site for details.

For a photo montage of our day, check out the photos below!