The Charlotte Playground Build at nearly 2 decades: mulch covered, much to accomplish
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Several dozen volunteers at Westerly Hill Academy found themselves in a sticky situation — hands covered in paint, with sweat on their brows from the rising sun’s heat, aiming to make their mark.
And they did, adorning several vivid-yellow benches with dappled hand prints. The seats are among several cool amenities in a new playground at this Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school.
The effort, the 19th annual Charlotte Playground Build, is shepherded by the United Way of Greater Charlotte. Last Friday some 200 volunteers who work for 17 businesses around the region gathered to pitch in. As the sun rose to a noonday height, activity hummed along with volunteers assembling stairs, slides, bridges and ladders over mulch covered dirt.
Since 2002, the effort to build playgrounds at mostly Title I schools within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district evolved from other community nonprofits participating, including Hands on Charlotte, which merged with the United Way. While the build hasn’t taken place every year, it’s been a way to bring resources that other schools in neighborhoods have to communities that need it the most, Bob Young, chief of staff for United Way said.
“If you’re in a part of town where you don’t have access to that capital, what are your options?” Young said. “This playground is one of those things (where) you can actually build it and have it and know that it’s going to be used. We know that it’s something of value to the kids and the teachers. That’s a nice little landing spot that we’ve been able to find.
“These are kids and families who want to live the exact same life that you live in. They are your neighbors. Let’s reach out to them. Let’s find cool things that we can do for them. It’s a thing that’s doable. But hopefully, it’s a platform and not the last thing that we’re gonna be able to do.”
Volunteers and students partner
Westerly Hills Academy is northwest of Charlotte’s center off Wilkinson Boulevard, near the Freedom Drive corridor. It’s a small school that has a little more than 470 students with the majority African American and Hispanic. The school has been challenged with meeting proficiency standards, but improved in the 2022-23 school year, based on statewide test scores, a News & Observer analysis revealed last September.
“We need them to be ready to learn. And we’re working hard every day to make sure they’re learning, in that we’re teaching and meeting them where they are “ said Kim Brown, the school’s assistant principal. “Having recess is necessary.”
“You use what you get. We’re lucky we got the partnership with somebody, who came in and said hey, ‘we’re gonna help you,’ ” she added.
Westerly Hills Academy fifth graders also help with plan the effort including choosing which kind of playground they want built, Brown said.
United Way oversees the fundraising and coordinates with CMS and the businesses with planning that begins several months out. This year’s effort cost roughly $100,000 including materials donated, Young said.
“You can always give financially, which we do. But people really love just coming out here,” says Mike Mullan, Co-CEO with Financial Independence Group, among businesses that volunteered. “For us, the best part is seeing the kids, some of the thank you notes. We sit behind a desk all day, so coming out here and getting our hands dirty and being out here in the nice weather is a good change of pace.”
