This post was written in partnership with Dr Pepper Snapple Group which covered my travel expenses while I attended the #DPSFlavorTour. All opinions are my own.
A few weeks ago I had went to Dallas as part of a trip with the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. I had a chance to participate in a hands on service day in which we built a playground in just one day! Dr Pepper Snapple is very concerned with encouraging kids to be physically active, which is why they started the Let’s Play initiative. They have teamed up with Kaboom, Good Sports to help millions of children all over the country, by building and updating playgrounds and by donating new sports equipment to communities.
La Academia de Estrellas is a charter school in Dallas which had no playground. Dr Pepper Snapple, Kaboom and hundreds of volunteers changed that, and in just one day turned this empty field into a lovely playground.
When I agreed to help out on this playground build I had not thought about how hot it would be in Dallas in late June! It was very, very hot, and there was little shade at the work site. But volunteers showed up in force, and there were all kinds of jobs to be done. Some people put playground parts together, some people packed boxes full of sporting goods, and others moved mulch – which seemed like the hottest job of all.
I was assigned to a team that planted trees and built benches around the trees. Our group was given the pile of lumber above and told build two tree benches. Our team lead, Jose, a took a small crew over to plant the trees while the rest of us tried to figure out how to put out to make the wood into something useful. It took us a little while to get organized but we eventually got the hexagonal benches laid out and start putting them together.
We had to build the bench without connecting the final side, and then carry it over to the tree, and then finish it off. We screwed things together, sanded, made mistakes, unscrewed things, and had one of the benches fall apart when we flipped it over.
But it all finally came together and our tree benches were set in place next to the playground. Â It is going to take a few years before the trees provide much shade though!
While I was busy building benches other volunteers were filling boxes with sports equipment to be delivered to 70 organizations around the Dallas area,
building a sunshade and fence for the school garden,
and painting artwork on the black top.
After the benches were finished someone tried to hand me a paint brush to help with the painting, but I assured them that would be a mistake! So instead I joined the army of volunteers hauling a seemingly endless pile of mulch to go around the playground equipment. By 2:15 the equipment was cemented in place, the mulch pile was mostly gone, everyone was hot and sweaty, and the playground was ready for the official ribbon cutting.
The Let’s Play Program is committed to building playgrounds like this all over the country, and in fact there was another playground build the same day in New Jersey. And in addition to building new playgrounds, they help renovate existing ones, so that kids everywhere can get the active play they need. Learn more about the program at Lets Play.
Helping build this playground was one of the most hot, tiring and worthwhile things I have done in a long time, and well worth the effort! While in Dallas I also had the chance to visit the Dr Pepper Snapple headquarters and get a behind the scenes tour of their research lab. So check back next week for details about that visit, and let me know what kinds of service projects you and your family have been involved in lately.
I was at the Playground Build in New Jersey that same day! What an accomplishment, isn’t it?
I think what Snapple and Doctor Pepper are doing is so great, and think it’s amazing that you got the opportunity to help. What a fantastic way to help the community.
This is just awesome! Every child needs a playground and I love that you got involved and helped make it happen! I think we should all give back and I love that Snapple and Dr Pepper are helping to do that!
What a great thing to do for communities and kids. Dr.Pepper is my favorite soda. Now I like them for more than their taste.
What a great program! Kids need clean safe places to play and be a kid!
What a great thing to do. I love seeing the new playgrounds because I think all kids need a playground to go to.
This turned out so neat! I love the painting on the ground of America!