Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Gentz
Kayla, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Founded in 2020, the New Baden Park Boosters 501c3 organization established their mission: to foster growth and improvement in the facilities of the village park in order to promote better health and welfare to the residents of our community. The initial focus was placed on improving community youths’ access to athletics programming, regardless of socioeconomic status. In each year that has passed, more children have enrolled in our youth soccer and baseball/softball programs, with approximately 15% of enrollees coming from adjacent communities. In providing these youth sports services, the Park Boosters have increased local traffic through our community, benefiting the restaurants, coffee shops, and convenience stores throughout.
At the heart of our village park is a large playground structure which is in poor condition and largely inaccessible to individuals with any mobility issues, both children and supervising adults alike. While the New Baden Park Boosters recognized immediately upon founding that the playground needed to be addressed, attention was first turned to athletics infrastructure which would improve foot traffic through the park and increase attendance, and consequently fundraising, associated with hosting tournaments.
Now, the New Baden Park Boosters have committed to the large undertaking of not only replacing the playground structure, but improving upon the facilities in such a way that any child can participate and play amongst friends, regardless of physical or social-emotional challenges which might otherwise limit them.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
New Baden is a village of 3300 residents trying to build a half million dollar playground, so our challenge has been trying to drum up the necessary finances in a time of inflation where money is tight for the average resident. Luckily, we have a very generous community who shares our desire to provide better opportunities for all children, regardless of ability level. They have stepped up, whether in the form of business donations, attending pancake breakfasts and trivia nights, or purchasing raffle tickets. We have been receiving support and encouragement from surrounding entities like Community Link and Hoyleton Youth and Family Services, who share our mission to ensure all children have access to facilities that allow them to be included and feel valued. With each step we take closer to our goal, we feel the strength of more and more individuals from this community lifting us up and urging us forward.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The New Baden Park Boosters Playground Committee is made up of 11 moms who want to give back to our community. By constructing an inclusive, accessible playground in the heart of the village park, we will provide not only a central site for community engagement and inclusion for children of all ability levels, but a structure which will attract both adjacent community members and the traveling public to visit and patronize New Baden businesses.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The greatest risk is going out and applying for grants and asking for donations from organizations, knowing that many people think we were crazy to take on a playground design of such a significant expense when we could potentially fall short of our goal. But as a committee, we were all in agreement from the beginning that if we were building a playground, we would make sure it was one that every child in New Baden could enjoy, and every parent could feel safe taking their child to visit. The risk of knowing that we could potentially fail is far overshadowed by the determination we feel when we look at our kids and know how meaningful this playground will be to everyone in New Baden and surrounding communities.
Pricing:
- The overall budget for The Village Playground is just shy of $510,000.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://unlimitedplay.org/playground/the-village-playground/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NBParkBoosters
- Twitter: @NBParkBoosters
