March 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Front Page

This used playset found new life at the
Reach Haiti orphanage near Port-auPrince.

Parks & Recreation

KIDS recycles playgrounds donated to them from park and recreation
departments, schools, and other facilities for use by children in these
underprivileged areas. They remove
the equipment, refurbish them as
necessary, and then ship them overseas to other countries where children are waiting, but they need our
help. The demand for these recycled
playgrounds has increased, and they
need more playgrounds, funding, and
volunteers.
If you are aware of a playground
that is being replaced or removed
from your city, please consider donating the equipment to KIDS. The
organization is fully insured and will
provide a liability waiver that protects you from claims from the onsite removal and future claims after
the equipment has been reinstalled
in another country. None of these
playgrounds will be installed in the
United States. Once KIDS reinstalls
the equipment, they will send you
a picture of local children enjoying
your gift of play.
Building playgrounds in disaster-affected areas, where many of
the children have never seen a playground before, has been some of the
most rewarding work I've had the
pleasure of doing in my life. Please
consider volunteering or letting your
old play equipment help bring joy
and hope to children and families in
some of the poorest cities around the
globe. Thank you for your help!
If you should have any questions or
have used equipment to donate, please
contact Tim Clauson, KIDS director of
playgrounds, at 815.229.8731 or timc
@kidsaroundtheworld.com, or visit
www.kidsaroundtheworld.com.
Greg A. Weitzel is Director of the Division of
Parks and Recreation for the City of Idaho
Falls, Idaho (gweitzel@idahofallsidaho.gov).

| M A R C H 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

Test Your Park
& Recreation
Knowledge
The following question is a
sample Certiﬁed Park and
Recreation Professional (CPRP)
examination question.
The most common contribution
of public schools to local park and
recreation agencies is to:
A.

Develop leisure skills

Administer specialized
recreation programs

Train teachers as skilled
recreation leaders

Provide facilities for
recreational use

Calling all beginning to mid-level
professionals! The Certified Park
and Recreation Professional (CPRP)
is the national standard for all park
and recreation professionals who
want to be at the forefront of their
profession. For more information
on the CPRP certification program,
please visit www.nrpa.org/cprp.
Answer - D. Provide facilities for recreational use

supplies, and toys to the children.
Before the earthquake, there were
only a handful of playgrounds in
Haiti, but that's changing thanks to
groups like Kids Around the World
(KIDS).
KIDS is a nonprofit organization
that helps build playgrounds and
deliver food to children in communities devastated by poverty and natural disasters. For the past 18 years,
they have built more than 270 playgrounds in 42 different countries.
This has taken KIDS into Africa,
Latin America, and eastern Europe,
as well as Haiti before and after the
earthquake, and Thailand after the
tsunami.

March 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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