When the Salvation Army’s
Beginnings Child Care unveiled their new playground equipment last week, it was more than a standard ribbon cutting on a new set of monkey bars.
After learning that a $50,000 private gift to the
Salvation Army and an additional $25,000 from the Army would be allocated toward an upgraded playground for Beginnings, Director Lisa Leonard spent more than a year searching for the perfect equipment to match the award-winning center’s high quality standards.
“As we’ve become more mindful of the dangers of traditional playground equipment we’ve simply taken more and more out of playgrounds,” says Leonard. “We can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. There has got to be a way for kids to spin, jump, roll, dig and play.”
The result of her research is a playground full of new equipment made from recycled materials appropriate for kids of all ages – an important quality for Beginnings, which services children from six weeks through age 10.
“I wanted it to have longevity and variety,” says Leonard. “I also wanted it to have a natural feel to it.”
Beginnings Child Care is a top-rated Salvation Army childcare facility servicing a wide demographic of Lansing area families with a focus on low-income families with working parents. Grants and support from the Salvation Army help the facility to provide state-of-the-art care from fulltime professionals.
“The Army is very supportive of us and our new playground,” says Leonard. “It’s just very cool space.”
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