Garber, Roth, players build playground for Seattle school
MLS W.O.R.K.S. teams with The Home Depot, KaBOOM! to put on event
At the end of the day, the playground was complete. The purple, green and yellow equipment was surrounded by birch bark, fitting in with the plush green grass. A mural was painted on a wall. All the players and volunteers were dirty and tired from a hard day's work.
"We're a healthy school," said Principal ElDoris Turner. "Our snacks are all healthy snacks. We want our children to be healthy. A vital point to that is how healthy they are. When the kids have a safe place to play, they do better in the classroom."
MLS W.O.R.K.S. teamed up with The Home Depot and KaBOOM! to make the event happen. Volunteers, including students, parents and friends of the school, employees of The Home Depot and MLS players, worked all day to help the playground turn into a reality. They also worked to beautify the grounds.
"It's always overwhelming to see people give their kindness and time," Turner said. "And for us to be able to tie it in with the Sounders and MLS is great for all of us."
All in all, KaBOOM! project manager Ann Gaudand said the volunteers carried 125 cubic yards of mulch and mixed 12,000 pounds of concrete by hand. They painted, raked, made ceramic tiles, planted bulbs, built the playground equipment and much more during the 6-hour event.
"Today was fantastic," Gaudand said as she jumped up and down in celebration. "It was a ton of fun. On rainy days like today, you don't know if people will come out. But we had tons of volunteers. The weather cleared up just in time for our board cutting ceremony."
Garber sawed the board in the groundbreaking ceremony, alongside the players and Roth.
"MLS W.O.R.K.S. strives to give back to the community, while doing it in a meaningful way," Garber said.
Kasey Keller, Fredy Montero, James Riley and Peter Vagenas represented Seattle Sounders FC. Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC) and Zach Thornton (Chivas USA) were also in attendance. For the players, the most rewarding part of the day was knowing they were giving back to the kids.
"I'm happy to come to Seattle to be a part of this great event," De Rosario said. "MLS Cup is always a great time for all of us in the game. Giving back to the community, especially to the kids is a big part of MLS W.O.R.K.S.
"I haven't done an actual building of a playground before today. It was a lot of fun, especially painting with the kids."
The Sounders FC fan base is huge. Seattle led the league in attendance in 2009, with an average crowd of 30,897 per game. While there are plenty of adults at every game, the players know the kids make up a big part of their fan base.
"When you see kids, Sounders fans, soccer fans in general, smiling because you're painting with them or next to them, it's great," Riley said. "It's a good feeling to give something back."
After the project was complete, the players stuck around to sign autographs. The students and volunteers lined up to meet their favorites, with smiles on their faces and hands full of items to be signed.
"It's 100 percent rewarding," De Rosario said. "Painting, seeing smiles on the kids faces, just to be a part of it is incredible."
Kathryn L. Knapp is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
