If you build it, they will come and play, says Yokohama. A dream became a reality for more than 700 kids in West Point, Mississippi, as Yokohama Tire and KaBOOM!, along with approximately 200 local volunteers, banded together and built a brand-new, eco-friendly playground at Marshall Park on Oct. 28.
Many of the volunteers helping on the one-day build work at Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM), the high-tech, one-million-square-foot plant in West Point.
“The new playground offers a fun, safe play area for children and their parents,” said Alan Holtschneider, director of marketing at Yokohama Tire Corp. “It’s gratifying to bring joy and happiness to the community of West Point.”
“Thank you Yokohama and KaBOOM! for building this incredible, vibrant new playground for the children of West Point,” said West Point Mayor Robbie Robinson. “I’m sure the kids and their parents will love and enjoy it for years to come.”
Highlights of the playground build included the installation of new, brightly colored, environmentally safe “Cradle-to-Cradle”-certified playground equipment. Yokohama and KaBOOM! met with local parents and their children back in August to help design the playground and pick out color schemes and equipment.
“The kids really were the design experts,” said Holtschneider. “Several of their ideas and apparatus choices were incorporated into the final design.”
This was the third playground collaboration with Yokohama KaBOOM! – a national non-profit dedicated to ensuring that all kids get a childhood filled with the balanced and active play needed to thrive. The first two were built in Southern California and Rockland, Massachusetts.
“Hundreds of kids in West Point now have a great, safe place to play thanks to Yokohama Tire Corp. and the City of West Point,” said Lysa Ratliff, vice president, corporate partnerships of KaBOOM!. “I’m excited KaBOOM! was able to help provide a playspace where these kids can have fun, learn, explore and just be kids.”
