Families have a new place to get active through play

After months of planning, 2 days of building, and 300 volunteers, there is a new playground at Edison Park and a new vegetable garden at Edison School! Designed by kids and built by the community, the vision of this project is to inspire kids and families to get active together.

On Saturday, June 22 and Wednesday, June 18, nearly 300 volunteers from the local community, Disney, Anaheim Family YMCA, the city of Anaheim, and Thomas Edison Elementary School came together to build a dream playground that will benefit over 1,200 children in Anaheim. The new playground, was built over the course of two days, and was designed based on drawings created by the children it will serve. After the drawings were submitted, KaBOOM! created three design concepts and allowed the children to vote on which playground they wanted for their park.

This new playground will provide children in the Anaheim community a safe place to play, while the learning garden at nearby Thomas Edison Elementary School will teach children how to grow vegetables – furthering their knowledge about healthy food and nutrition.

“This collaborative project embodies the Y’s commitment to youth development, healthy living and social responsibility,” said Paul Andresen, President and CEO of the Anaheim Family YMCA. “Through our work with Activate Anaheim, the Y and its partners are making improvements that promote healthy, active lifestyles for families throughout our community.”

In 2011, Disney is contributing more than $1 million to help KaBOOM! build playgrounds and learning gardens in 13 communities across the U.S. Disney is proud to work alongside their communities and give kids the opportunity to play, be active, enjoy time with family and learn ways to be healthy at an early age.

On Saturday, June 25, 2011, children will be able to play on their new playground. Check it out then at Edison Park and see how the project came to life!

Read more in these articles:

OC Register Article, Disney and others build new playground

OC Metro: 300 volunteers build new playground in Anaheim

Disney Parks Blog: Designed by Kids, Built by Disney VoluntEars