Kid Zone Playground at Heritage Park

1. Kid Zone Playground at Heritage Park A Community Service Opportunity Mary Dickson, 908-735-6315

2. The History of Heritage Park • Heritage Park is located in Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County, NJ (between exits 7-11 off Route 78). • Baseball, lacrosse, and soccer fields were built at the park in 2001 to replace fields lost during recent school expansion projects. • In the spring of 2002, the ball fields were dedicated as Huczko Memorial Fields in honor of a local Port Authority policeman who lost his life on September 11, 2001. • The community’s children hosted fund raisers (such as a read-a-thon) to pay for trees, landscaping, and a plaque for the memorial. • In 2003, a group of citizens founded Heritage Park Playground, Inc. with the goal of raising funds and rallying volunteers to erect a community-built playground. • The committee is divided into subcommittees focused on: fund raising, public relations, tools/materials, volunteer recruitment, children/child care, and food service.

3. Kid Zone Playground • The playground’s name “Kid Zone” was chosen from a contest held within our elementary and middle schools. • We have hired an award-winning company called Learning Structures, which has been helping communities build playgrounds for over 30 years. • Kid Zone will be 15,400 square feet in size, and it will include a “tot lot” for children under five as well as a “kid lot” for older children. • The playground is being funded completely by donations and constructed by volunteers. No tax dollars are being used. • Kid Zone has been designed by the playground committee and Learning Structures, who were inspired by drawings made by our elementary school children and community themes such as farming and hot air balloons. • The playground will be completely handicapped accessible. “Build” dates are June 2, June 3, June 4, and June 5 (Wednesday through Saturday) - rain or shine!

4. Kid Zone Playground (cont’d.) • Some of the exciting structures to be built at Kid Zone include: • Asbury Towers • Asbury Kiddie Barn • Wiggly Clatter Bridges • Caterpillar benches • Bouncing hay wagon • Climbing walls • Sliding boards and poles • Zip lines • Talk tubes and a music wall • Sandbox and sand table • Swings for children of all ages, including a handicapped swing A photograph on the following page illustrates a similar playground built in Green, Ohio.

5. Heritage Hill Playground in Green, Ohio

6. Kid Zone Playground Volunteers Volunteers need not be skilled! • The Kid Zone volunteers are categorized based on the following skill levels: • level 1: raking, shoveling, sanding • level 2: operation of hand tools (hammers, handsaws, drills, wrenches) • level 3: basic carpentry skills (ex. building decks); operation of circular saw, level, square • level 4: strong carpentry or construction skills • Projected number of volunteers by “framing day”: • June 2 and 3: 22 level 4 volunteers 22 level 1, 2, 3 volunteers 44 total volunteers each day • Projected number of volunteers by “raising day”: • June 4 and 5: 27 level 4 volunteers 77 level 3 volunteers 69 level 2 volunteers 60 level 1 volunteers 233 total volunteers each day

7. Kid Zone Playground Volunteers (cont’d.) More than 550 volunteers are required to support the four-day “build”! • Volunteers are being recruited from the immediate community, churches, youth groups, scouting organizations, high schools and colleges, and corporations like AT&T. • Volunteers will be placed onto teams with dedicated team leaders; skill levels for each team have been established by structure and/or task. • For example, constructing a Caterpillar Bench requires a team captain of level 3, along with two additional level 3 volunteers and two level 2 volunteers. • Volunteers may ask to be placed on a team with their friends or colleagues. • Volunteer hours are from 8:00 a.m. until approximately 6:00 p.m. If necessary, “split shifts” can be arranged, and we can accommodate alternate schedules. • Team leaders must attend a meeting on Tuesday (6/1) evening, and they are to arrive at the site 1/2 hour early. Team leaders must be of the highest skill level required for a structure. • Lunch, snacks, and beverages will be served free of charge to all volunteers. • Child care services will also be available free of charge.

8. Kid Zone Playground Volunteers (cont’d.) • In addition to construction volunteers, childcare and food service volunteers are needed. Youth groups may choose to support the childcare activities by planning sports, games, and activity "stations"; preparing arts and crafts; organizing music and dancing games; etc. • Teens participating in the construction must be 18 to operate power tools and at least 15 or 16 if working alongside a youth group leader. Teens may be 13 or 14 if working construction alongside a parent. (Note that all teens and appropriate aged pre-teens are welcome to support the childcare activities.) • All construction volunteers will be asked to wear sturdy work clothes, hard shoes, and gloves - and they may be asked to bring some standard work tools, labeled with their name. • Additional Kid Zone information can be found at www.heritagepark.scisys.org. The hotline number for the Heritage Park Playground committee is (908) 735-3137. • Volunteer Recruitment contact: Mary Dickson, 908-735-6315 The illustration on the following page depicts the Heritage Park Kid Zone playground plan.

9. Kid Zone Playground Plan