Gray’s Green community to get new playground

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By Latrishka Thomas

[email protected]

The Gray’s Green community is set to receive a gift that promises to light up the faces of children.

A brand new playground is making its way to the neighbourhood, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Bonnie Floyd Ministries and the generosity of the One Desk Foundation.

Spanning six acres of land within Cooks New Extension, the playground project has been spurred by the Bonnie Floyd Ministries’ previous successful endeavour in Barbuda, where a playground was established to fill a gap for local children.

Recognising the positive impact such spaces have on the community, the organisation was determined to bring the same joy to Antigua.

The inspiration for the project in Antigua came when Bonnie Floyd Ministries received a call from a partner organisation ‘Kids Around the World’, indicating that ‘One Desk Foundation’ was keen on funding a new playground on the island.

The adventure playground is now nearing completion, due to a collaborative effort of volunteers.

One Desk’s executive officer Luke Beisinger shared his motivation behind the initiative, stating that the foundation aims to support countries with fewer resources, extending help to those in need beyond his homeland in America.

“I think that for me the main reason I’m doing this is to put smiles on faces and give back to the rest of the world,” the teenager expressed passionately.

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New playground in Cooks New Extension. (Photo by Theresa Goodwin)

The project’s funding was primarily sourced from Beisinger’s hard work over the summer. As a junior at Walt Whitman High School in Maryland, Beisinger dedicated himself to his mission, conducting swimming lessons at his local pool and generously donating 20 percent of his earnings to the playground project. The total funds raised, amounting to over $25,000.

The One Desk Foundation, is a not-for-profit organisation which was established in 2010 to transform the lives of millions of children in underprivileged communities by focusing on academic excellence and character development.

Meanwhile, describing the playground’s construction, Floyd spoke of its durability, noting that it consists of over 40 concrete-anchored poles that ensure its stability.

She explained that “the playground in Barbuda is well over a year and it’s still standing strong.”

“The only way you could damage these types of playgrounds is if someone maliciously came with something to destroy them,” she added, going as far as to say that adults will be able to use it.

According to Floyd, the playground should be completed by this weekend and will be fenced afterwards.

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