Edgewood and Murphy School Playground Equipment Removed & Donated

Staff and volunteers from the Woodridge Park District, Woodridge School District 68 and Kids Around the World, a non-for-profit organization that recycles old playgrounds by giving them new life in other countries, helped remove the playground equipment at Murphy and Edgewood Schools in June.

Thanks to Kids Around the World (KATW), the removed play equipment from both schools will be refurbished with new fittings and hardware, repainted and welded in their warehouse in Rockford, IL. KATW then connect with communities overseas to determine a need and an appropriate fit for each playground based on playground size and features and site assessments of possible playground locations. Once a site is identified for each unique playground and a rebuild date is coordinated, KATW ship the playground from their warehouse to the new overseas location and send their staff and volunteers to manage the safe rebuild of these refurbished playgrounds, often in communities where kids have never even been on a playground before. Upon completion, KATW then send photos and updates of the reinstallation efforts of all donated playgrounds so agencies can see what a great impact their donation has made to another community. Not only does partnering with KATW with playground donations give to underserved communities, but by donating these playgrounds and removing with KATW staff and volunteers, there are no costs for equipment removal. In fact, staff estimates it saves the Park District between $5,000 and $10,000 for each playground (the estimated cost a contractor would charge to remove and legally dispose of the playground equipment, which would likely end up in a landfill).

These playground removals were the first step in the playground replacement project at both schools part of a playground replacement project at both schools which also includes the replacement of swings at Edgewood School, the replacement of existing wood timber borders with poured concrete barrier curbing and seat walls, replacement of engineered wood fiber playground safety surfacing, drainage improvements, the addition of accessible ramps, paving for accessible site amenities (benches and trash receptacles) and landscape plantings for increased shade. Construction is underway at both sites with completion anticipated before the start of the upcoming school year.

Because of a long-standing intergovernmental partnership between the two agencies, the playground replacement costs will be funded cooperatively by both School District 68 and the Woodridge Park District. The sharing in costs also allows Park District staff to enhance the two playground areas in line with the District’s typical neighborhood park developments by incorporating site furnishings (benches and trash receptacles) and the planting of shade trees at these school playground locations.