Cape May Coast Guard Recruits Build Playground for Local School
Students that attend the Cape May City Elementary School arrived in September to find a brand new playground designed for the younger children.
More than 20 recruits and enlisted personnel from Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May arrived at the school August 22nd and 23rd to assemble newly purchased playground equipment. All where ready to help with the community build playground.
According to John Thomas, school business administrator, an old swing set was replaced plus a climbing gym and host of new play equipment was installed. The new playground area is closer to the school building and also offers an area for younger children to play with students their own size, he said. The area has new swings, several new spinning components, a climbing dome, a double spring rider, a 4 seat seesaw and a new play structure which are all age appropriate for children ages 2 through 5. Benches were also installed for use by teachers and parents while they supervise the children playing.
The Coast Guard recruits enjoyed the day, while providing a community service to instead of enduring the daily rigors of their usual training activities. The volunteer installers followed the supervision of Michael Wiley, a General Recreation Sales Consultant, and two other company representatives. The construction took less than 2 days and all were very satisfied with the project. “ These recruits worked diligently and did a great job following our guidance throughout the build. They really seemed to enjoy being able to help the community with this great project and they didn’t seem to mind missing a day or two of their usual training.”
To make life easier for youngsters who fall down on the job, two hundred cubic yards of engineered wood fiber surfacing have been installed and placed on the playground to make the ground softer and safer for the children playing.
Thomas said the Coast Guard volunteers saved Cape May City Elementary School over 30% of the overall project costs by using the volunteer labor for the project. Thomas, his son and some local parents also lent a hand with the installation.
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