KABOOM! Playground Storybook - Commemorating A Special Gift
Kaboom! and Delta Air Lines partnered together to build a new play space for San Jose Christian School. Through the playground grant program, Kaboom! provides many kids a space to play and let their imaginations soar. We are so blessed to be a recipient of the Kaboom! Grant and our students have enjoyed their new space immensely. Recently Kaboom! provided San Jose Christian School this special digital storybook keepsake to commemorate the wonderful gift we received in December 2020.
San Jose Christian School, Delta Air Lines and KABOOM! Work to End Playspace Inequity with a New Playground in Campbell, CA.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Jose Christian School, Delta Air Lines and KABOOM! Work to End Playspace Inequity with a New Playground in Campbell, CA
The new playspace brings joy to hundreds of kids after months of playground closures
(Campbell, CA – December 14, 2020) – Kids at San Jose Christian School (SJCS) in Campbell are celebrating today because they have a great new place to play. For months, representatives from San Jose Christian School, Delta and KABOOM! (the nonprofit organization focused on ending playspace inequity) have been working together to increase access to playspaces for local kids with the creation of a new, kid-designed playground that was installed on December 8, 2020. The playground will give kids an incredible place to play close to where they live and learn, an opportunity that is often hard to achieve.
Since 1959, San Jose Christian School has been partnering with Christian families to provide students with a strong foundation for life. SJCS started the school year with distance learning but remained hopeful Santa Clara County would accept their waiver application to have on-campus instruction. The County approved their waiver application and SJCS has been operating under this waiver since September 28th and continues to have on-campus instruction. Individual learning cohorts will begin using the playspace as an early Christmas present before the Christmas break.
Mr. Buddy Hucks, Head of School at San Jose Christian School said, “Considering the year we have had, San Jose Christian School is feeling blessed to have on-campus instruction and have a new playground. It is fantastic to hear the children learn and play on campus. The students love being on campus and have adjusted very well to the protocols put in place to be open. They are certainly excited to play on and explore the new playground.”.
Mr. Hucks added, “We are so grateful for this opportunity to create memories for our students that will last a lifetime. The playground we replaced was more than 20 years old. It was well used and created lasting memories for many generations. It is very exciting to think of the memories and friendships that will be created on this new playground provided by Delta Air Lines and KABOOM!.”
In October, kids from the SJCS community participated in a virtual Design Day where they creatively thought of ideas to create their dream playground. The new playground, which was designed with inspiration from their drawings, will provide hundreds of kids and their families with an incredible playspace that can spark hope and enable kids to reach their full potential.
While San Jose Christian School is currently operating with a closed campus due to the COVID-19 crisis, their team is looking forward to opening the playspace to their surrounding neighbors to enjoy when it is safe to do so.
KABOOM! knows that playspaces are essential to resilience, health and childhood. The communities that have been hit the hardest by COVID-19 are more likely to be communities of color that also often lack access to parks and playspaces due to historic disinvestment. The partners have teamed up to help end playspace inequity, creating a new place for kids to play that reflects the neighborhood’s unique needs and aspirations, and gives every kid the opportunity to experience the joys of childhood.
“We know disasters and crises often exacerbate the inequities that communities are already experiencing, and in many communities, kids won’t have a playground to go back to once the COVID-19 crisis is over,” says James Siegal, CEO of KABOOM!. “We must stop the playspace inequities from becoming even deeper after we get through this pandemic, giving every kid the chance to play and just enjoy being a kid.”
Through its partnership with Delta, KABOOM! is committed to ending playspace inequity for kids, for communities, for good.
To ensure that playgrounds are able to open safely in every community, KABOOM! has issued important playground guidance that all communities, playground owner/operators and caregivers can follow. The guidance can be viewed or downloaded at kaboom.org/reopen.
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About San Jose Christian School
Since 1959, San Jose Christian School has been partnering with Christian families to provide students with a strong foundation for life. We prepare students for academic success in high school and beyond, and we care deeply about each child’s physical, social, and spiritual development. At San Jose Christian School, we teach students to develop a Biblical worldview where they are discerners and world-changers. We believe in teaching the Whole Child, recognizing that God created us all with different abilities and gifts. We hold every student to his or her level of Educational Excellence within a safe and loving environment.
About Delta Air Lines
Delta’s mission to connect the world starts with its commitment to being a strong partner to the communities where our employees live, work and serve. Giving back has been core to Delta and its culture for the past 90 years, demonstrated by its commitment to invest in charitable organizations each year. Delta, The Delta Air Lines Foundation and its employees contribute thousands of volunteer hours and millions of dollars to a host of causes across the globe.
Delta has also been named an honoree of The Civic 50 by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service for the past three years in a row. In 2019, for a third straight year, Delta landed on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list, the only airline to do so. Delta has also been named Best Workplaces for Diversity, Women and Millennials by Fortune and Great Places to Work.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta has served as many as 200 million people a year, taking customers across an industry-leading global network of up to 300 destinations in over 50 countries. More about Delta can be found on Delta News Hub as well as delta.com, via @DeltaNewsHub on Twitter and Facebook.com/delta.
About KABOOM!
KABOOM! is the national non-profit that works to achieve playspace equity. Kids who don’t have access to play miss out on childhood and are denied critical opportunities to build physical, social and emotional health. And all too often, it more deeply affects communities of color. So we amplify the power of communities to build inspiring playspaces that spark unlimited opportunities for every kid, everywhere. KABOOM! has teamed up with partners to build or improve 17,000+ playspaces, engage more than 1.5 million community members and bring joy to more than 11 million kids. To learn about our goal to end playspace inequity for good, visit kaboom.org and join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom, facebook.com/kaboom and instagram.com/kaboom.
CONTACT :
San Jose Christian School: Christopher Pinkham | 408-371-7741 | cpinkham@sjchristian.org
Delta Air Lines: Delta Media | 404-715-2554 | media@delta.com
KABOOM!: Tamara Grider | 202-464-6411 | tgrider@kaboom.org