An empty lot was transformed into a kid-designed play space in less than eight hours at the Samuel Field Y, which serves approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Great Neck community members, on Thursday, Sept. 14. With the help of more than 200 people from the Samuel Field Y, ESPN, Disney, area residents and organizers from KaBOOM!, more than 2,000 children will now have an amazing new place to play and be active.
“We are so grateful to KaBOOM!, who partnered us with ESPN and Disney to design and build our agency’s third state-of-the-art, inclusive playground that can support and provide fun, recreational and educational play opportunities for all of the children in our community,” said Jared Mintz of Samuel Field Y. “Today truly was an exhilarating day of creation, collaboration and teamwork and we look forward to the play possibilities that lie ahead.”
Since its inception more than 60 years ago, The Samuel Field YM & YWHA has been dedicated to enhancing the quality of individual, family and communal life through service to people of all ages, ability levels and stages of life, and provides a diverse array of programs and services to more than 35,000 residents of Queens and Western Nassau.
Playgrounds help children grow into productive adults—they’re a brain-expander, friend-maker and muscle-builder. What makes this new playground particularly unique is that its design is based on ideas from participating children’s drawings.
Since 1996, KaBOOM! has been dedicated to ensuring that all children get the balanced and active play they need to thrive and has collaborated with partners to build, open or improve more than 16,700 playgrounds, engaged more than one-million volunteers and served 8.5-million kids, because #PlayMatters.
The Samuel Field Y playground is one of many made possible with support from Disney as part of The Walt Disney Company Healthy Living Commitment, a long-standing promise to create healthier generations by making healthy living fun and simple. Together, Disney and KaBOOM! have built more than 75 new play spaces across America, providing nearly 100,000 kids access to healthier lifestyles and safe places to play and grow.
“Through this play space, we’re proud to demonstrate that the power of sport combined with community leadership can work together to give children a healthier future,” said Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN Corporate Citizenship, a company that believes at its very best, sports uplifts the human spirit. “This project helps ensure that the youth in the community have access to a safe, accessible play space within walking distance of where they live or go to school.”
