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Welcome to the General Recreation Community section. Check here for recent articles and updates from around the country about General Recreation.

Do you find it challenging to raise money, resources and find volunteer help for local school or community playground projects?

General Recreation, Inc. has a solution to help you achieve these goals. Our NEW Website Fundraising Service can help bring your community dreams to life. The Fundraising Website Service is a free website for playground projects. The website is your vehicle for community members and sponsors to take part in your initiative to raise money, awareness, and volunteers. Your fundraising website will work in combination with anything else you decide to do. Simply sign up with General Recreation to design and build your project and you will gain access to our wonderful Fundraising Service.

The Fundraising website can:
*Engage people within your area to donate & volunteer for the betterment of the community
*Use the website as a marketing vehicle for corporate sponsors
*Allow people to take part in improving their community
*Leverage the power of the internet

A Fundraising Website can inform the local community by having a central location to tell your project story, have photos of the existing area, as well as drawings and plans for the project; website visitors will be able to understand all aspects and goals of the project. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are built in, allowing information about the project’s goals and needs to be easily spread throughout the local community.

The Website Fundraising Tool also features clear financial goals complete with a fundraising thermometer that displays the current raised funds, visitors can easily make donations themselves. Accepting donations online is a viable, inexpensive and easy way to increase your fundraising efforts. Even if visitors do not donate online, they will learn of other fundraising events in which they can participate and benefit the project. The website can be used as a marketing vehicle for corporate sponsors as well, acknowledging their participation complete with their logos and web links to their businesses.

With a simple and easy to use online administration tools, your group will be able to keep all information regarding the project up to date. This powerful website tool has the ability to grow and evolve quickly. As more people visit the website the more their friends, family and other community members learn about it as well.

See a current website being used by a General Recreation client at: http://buildourplayground.com/riverviewsrecreationrenovation/

Learn more about our Fundraising Website at: http://www.generalrecreationinc.com/index.php/community/article-list/134-fundraising

Beyond equipment, playgrounds that matter.

General Recreation does a variety playground projects every year, but sometimes there is one that stands out. The Jake's Place Playground was one of those projects that seperated itself from the other projects, simply beacuse it was bigger than a playground, or a new product.

Jacob Myles Cummings Nasto passed away in 2008. Jake’s rare heart condition, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, kept him in the hospital for operations and away from his favorite place: the playground. “Jake’s disability made it difficult for him to play on the playground, but he loved it there. He’d light up when other kids were around. Seeing them have fun was his motivation,” his grandmother, Lynn Cummings recalls.

Jake received his physical therapy on the local playground, which is typical for special needs children. After he passed, his parents, while devestated, decided to do something in memory of Jake: build a playground. Michael Wiley, a Gen-Rec sales consultant, assisted with the fundraising and planning of the playground.

We at General Recreation are passionate about our area of expertise, playgrounds and equipment, but it's wonderful when we can use our knowledge and ability to impact the lives of people beyond just quality products. We hope to have a legacy beyond the actual equipment, we want to make people's lives better as well.

Easterling Primary School: small playground, big victory

Each day is a celebration of small victories for children with autism. The new Outdoor Therapeutic Learning Environment at Easterling Primary School, in Marion, S.C., is one of them.

The playground serves as an outdoor classroom and therapy area for children in special education. “We’ve found that other playgrounds are busy and large, so they don’t always lend the best environment for autistic children whose social challenges can be overwhelming,” explains Ashley Collins, the Autism and Applied Behavior Therapy Coordinator for Marion School District 1.

Ashley works collaboratively with special education teachers, general education teachers, and their students whose autism ranges from mild to severe.

“We’d looked at many options, and knew immediately that what Gerald had was going to be the best fit. Plus it was different!” says Ashley. She worked with occupational and speech therapists to determine what pieces would be most helpful. “Gerald was really personable and professional. He had a great sense of what we wanted, and had very specific solutions for us.”

Each structure has purpose and meaning. “We’ll see great developmental changes in our students and the chance to introduce so many learning concepts,” explains Ashley. For example, students who do not typically communicate with others will most likely begin talking and interacting more often.

“The playground also will be highly motivating for children that are extremely challenging to motivate through traditional avenues like praise or stickers,” she adds. Easterling_boy_320

To work on students’ sensory processing challenges, Ashley and her team chose the Omni-SpinTM Spinner. It can be a sensory integration therapy tool for students by using movement to develop or retrain the connection between the brain and the rest of the body. This helps body awareness in general by improving muscle development that is needed for sitting and writing.

The Omni-Spin can be utilized as a "get going" tool to stimulate brain activity or a "calm down" tool to decrease brain activity, which improves attention level and focus in the classroom. Additional components include crawl tunnels and climbing walls, which are welcome challenges for students who must work on their mobility and coordination. Students with social challenges need highly motivating opportunities to easily initiate interaction. “The double slide gives them a chance to say, ‘Come with me, let’s slide together.’ They can go together, but still have their own slides,” says Ashley.

“Most play areas are a ‘go and play’ playground. Ours is a ‘come and play’ area, which fosters an inclusive environment where adults and children of all abilities play together,” she explains. Also, the teachers and therapists can easily supervise and interact, too, because the structures are not tall. “We struggle for every little victory here,” Ashley says. “We must celebrate the small things, which is so important to our students."

Be on the lookout for this playground in Landscape Structures’ 2012 catalog! It’s accessible design and price point made it a great fit for this year’s examples of what’s possible in the world of inclusive play.

To learn more about this project, contact Gerald Hitch at 866-304-1062 or contact email Gerald at Gerald Hitch.

Product Spotlight: Landscape Structures Evos™ Belt-Zone™ Climber

Landscape Structures’ Evos playsystem is the company’s most popular playstructure with good reason. It’s three-dimensional spherical design offers children an infinite number of ways to enter, exit and play through the structures while encouraging creative and imaginative play. Now, with the release of the Evos Belt-Zone Climber, there are even more options.

The Belt-Zone Climber is a durable sturdy option for the Evos playsystem. Constructed using extra-thick, durable polyester-reinforced rubber and the highest quality climbing cable to create barrier and hand support, the Belt-Zone Climber appears like it’s floating in mid-air even though it’s maximum elevation is 45 inches.

The climber connects to any Evos playsystem with two or more arches, and can be used as a starting point for new playsystems.

It challenges children both mentally and physically, while promoting balance and strategic coordination. Designed for children ages 5–12+, the Belt-Zone Climber is another fun, and innovative way to encourage healthy, happy play. For more information about Betl-Zone contact General Recreation, Inc. at 800-726-4793 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information about Landscape Strutures play equipment CLICK HERE

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Landscape Structures steps into soft surfacing

Landscape Structures, the nation’s leading designer and manufacturer of commercial playground equipment, has stepped into the soft surfacing market with its recent acquisition of Pebble-Flex^®.

Based out of Eatonton, N.J., Pebble-Flex specializes in providing comfortable, safe, durable, and easily installed soft surface materials. Its main product lines, Pebble-Flex and Aquaflex, blend technology and practicality to enable schools, parks, and pools to improve the safety of their facilities and the kids who use them. The break-through technology design uses aliphatic polyurethane chemistry, making Pebble-Flex products chlorine resistant and strong against UV light.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Landscape Structures,” said Steve King, chairman and cofounder of Landscape Structures. “The innovative PebbleFlex soft surfacing technologies have a proven durability that has improved safety in facilities for children. Through the strength of this combination, we will be able to offer a more comprehensive product line to our customers while reinforcing our reputation for providing innovative products and market-leading customer service.”

Landscape Structures’ mission is to enhance children’s lives by fostering and creating inspiring play experiences while honoring the environment. With the acquisition of Pebble-Flex, Landscape Structures not only tackles soft surfacing and water play sites—a unique and niche market—but also can provide even more complete play system solu PebbleFlex320 tions.

The two industry leaders and their shared values will benefit their customers for years to come. For more information about Pebble-Flex, contact General Recreation, Inc at 800-726-4793, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Or CLICK HERE to view the PebbleFlex/AquaFlex website.

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