The children of Delridge can look forward to a fun, new playground this summer thanks to the efforts of local residents who met Monday evening, June 1, at the Delridge Community Center. Under a warm, evening sky they decided on a new playground design for the park at Delridge Way and Southwest Genesse Street.

The meeting attendees had three designs to choose from. All featured playful elements such as slides, climbing walls, and swing sets. Votes have been tallied over the past few weeks via an on-line voting system and during the community event Delridge Day.

Community members were nearly unanimous in their decision for the third design. It includes a large play structure, a set of swings and a separate play area for smaller children. Members of the community and Bank of America employees plan to build the structure in a single day this summer on July 17.

“The community of North Delridge has been asking for a new playground for years, and years, and years,” said Betsy Hoffmeister, vice president of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council (NDNC).

She explained how the original plan was to add toddler friendly playground equipment to Cottage Grove Park.

“We currently have a nice playground at Cottage Grove for children ages 5 to 12 but the kids who play there are younger and it’s not accessible to them,” she said.

Fund-raising for the Cottage Grove project began two years ago, Hoffmeister explained. The NDNC soon discovered, however, that Kaboom, a national, nonprofit organization, had contacted the Delridge Community Center about writing a grant for a new playground there. Kaboom’s mission is to bring safe places to play to every community in the U.S. So far, they have built 1,600 playgrounds in various areas across the country.

“When Kaboom contacts you, that’s a really good sign,” Hoffmeister said. “So we decided at the NDNC to turn our energies and resources toward supporting this playground instead.”

Hoffmeister said one of the exciting parts about the project is how fast and streamlined it has been. However, she admitted it has been a bit of shell shock for the community.

“There’s very little of the kind of community process that we’re used to here in Seattle where things take years,” she explained. “With Kaboom it’s just ‘Look, tell us what you want, we’ll do the best we can. Make your choice, pick your design. We’re building it on July 17.'"

To get started, members of the NDNC held a meeting to gain a child’s perspective for the upcoming project.

“There were about 60 children and they drew these gorgeous pictures of their vision of what a playground should have in it,” Hoffmeister said.

The children drew everything from giant swing sets to elaborate slides complete with mattresses to bounce on. A parent meeting followed, resulting in three playground designs. Community members had until 9 p.m. Monday night to make a design decision.

While a new playground is on the way, Delridge children may have additional surprises to look forward to.

“It’s not just about building the playground itself,” Hoffmeister said. “It’s also looking at the sight and thinking about what we can do to incorporate play in other ways.”

This may include extra side projects such as planting a community garden, adding extra park benches or building picnic tables. Some of these enhancements could take place on build day. Hoffmeister said the community sponsors would help make these projects a reality.

“It just keeps blossoming out and we are incredibly grateful to all our donors," she said. "Some people have given $10 dollars, some have given thousands."

The primary financial donor is the Bank of America Foundation, but community members have also opened their wallets, as well as their hearts, to this project. Hoffmeister described how one donor signed over his entire tax rebate check.

However, the most generous neighbor is the McLaughlin Brothers, a contracting firm in North Delridge. She said it’s because of this small “mom and pop” organization that the playground will be a success.

McLaughlin Brothers will be on hand to deconstruct the current playground, which Hoffmeister said will find a special home in the near future. Any equipment not recycled on sight during the build will be donated to a small community in rural Washington that does not have a playground.

In addition to donations, money has been raised through fund-raising events such as this past weekend’s plant and raffle sale. The $354 raised at the event helped meet the project goal. The total money raised currently stands at $7,519.

Funds will help to not only build the playground but also insure that the process is performed as “green” as possible. Maureen A. O’Neill, South Recreation Manager for Seattle Parks and Recreation, described how there will be a composting dumpster on-site. All recyclable material will go to Cedar Grove, a local composting center, after the build is finished.

Playworld Systems, the company building the structure, also has a green focus.

“The company building the equipment has the highest possible standards of environmental commitment,” Hoffmeister said. “They measure their carbon footprint door to door, not just at the factory.”

Playground construction will kick-off with two pre-build days on July 15 and 16. During these days, the equipment will be unpacked and prepped for construction. The build day on July 17 will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include breakfast and lunch cooked by culinary students from South Seattle Community College. The project will wrap up on July 23 with a party to celebrate the new playground.

Hoffmeister emphasized that the team is still looking for volunteers and are especially in need of a food coordinator. Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to sign up via e-mail at helpdelridgeplay@gmail.com.

For more information, visit the project Web site at http://projects.kaboom.org/helpdelridgeplay.