One Month Ago

One month has passed since we came together to raise the spirit of the neighborhood and build our wonderful park. It is interesting to note that the park has had excellent attendance since the build. Not a day has gone by without it being enjoyed by children and their parents. The land has remained clean, the grass is growing, the trees have passed their blossoms, and the equipment looks wonderful.

Pictures from the Day

A HUGE thank you goes out to Marcel Keays - the man behind the lens - who captured the spirit of our day so well. We are posting just a few of the many that he took here on the website, but please feel free to head over to Marcel's website to check out the other 460! You can find them at http://www.marcelkeays.blogspot.com.

Thanks again to all of you who came out and gave us a big hand - you look great!

Enjoy.

Thank you for your great work

On behalf of the Let Them Be Kids organization, and the local Innisfail playground committee, I would like thank you for helping with the outstanding effort this past Saturday! Although I could not be there myself, I did watch the live broadcast and it looked like everything went awesome(here is the link for you to watch some of the interviews from that day http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ltbk---innisfail . We are an all volunteer organization with no paid staff, so we know how hard it is to pull something like this off. Your local committee did an outstanding job and should be commended for the hours, days, weeks and months they spent on this project. They took time from their own families to make the community better. All of you should be very proud of what you have done as well, because you gave time, talent and many of you gave your treasure to make the community better for kids and families. I would suggest that your collective efforts sent out a ripple of hope, that will affect your community for years to come, I encourage you to remember the spirit and sense the of community you felt last Saturday and draw upon that as you all work together to build a thriving community for the kids and families of today and for the generation to come. I have attached the team picture for you to keep as both a thank you and also a reminder of what can happen when communities come together… Again thank you and stay well, cheers-Ian

It's Built!!

Well, June 5th finally arrived and what a day it was!! A HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers. We can't believe just how incredibly everything went. All of you who came out were exceptional volunteers and we cannot thank you for everything you did on that day.

A huge thanks to all of our donors and to all of those who spread the word about what this project means.

Thanks to everyone who did an interview for our live broadcast, too!

It was beautiful to see all the kids run on to the playground and jump on the play structure. There were lots of kids still there last night and again today!!

We hope this is a day we talk about for a very long time. Pictures coming soon!

Please feel free to leave your thoughts on this blog so we can keep the conversation going.

Two Days To Go!!

It's been 6 months, and it is hard to believe that we have arrived at the pre-building stage. The volunteer crew is out working in the rain to prep the site for our build day on Saturday. We have lots of volunteers signed up and we can't wait to see you all out on Saturday, rain or shine.

Whether you will be building the playground, exercise equipment, planting flowers, cleaning up the neighbhourhood, or contributing to our urban art wall - there will be plenty of things to do!

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed, and will continue to contribute to this excellent initiative.












Volunteer work crews are plugging away Thursday and Friday to prep the site for Saturday

Build Day Schedule

Let Them Be Kids – Innisfail
Dr. Greg Ritson-Bennett Park Build

Schedule of Events: Saturday June 5, 2010

6:00 a.m. Set up.

7:00a.m. Registration opens. Coffee and muffins are available for morning volunteers.

REGISTRATION TABLE The registration table will be in the Back Alley on the east side of the park will have the registration tables where you can sign in, complete your waivers and get your t-shirt

PARKING We have allocated 49th Street and the CO-OP parking lot for parking your car. There will be NO access to 46th Ave. as it will be closed for construction equipment and materials.

FOOD: We are planning to feed you right! Please bring your own coffee mug as we are trying to be ‘green’. Water will be provided. Food and first aid booths will be located in the Heartland Funeral Home parking lot.

7:30 a.m. Childcare registration open.

CHILDCARE REGISTRATION TABLE will be in the United Church Hall. Childcare waiver forms will be supplied. Parents are required to sign-in and sign-out their children.

8:00 a.m. Build Day Begins.

REMINDER: all volunteers must check in at the registration table.
If you have not registered on the website yet, please do so at www.innisfail.ltbk.ca

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Lunch is served for volunteers and children.

LUNCH will be served in the Heartland Funeral Home parking lot. Children in childcare will be fed at the United Church Hall

3:00 p.m. Childcare ends.

PICK UP: Children can be picked up to make their way to the park for the opening ceremonies. Children are welcomed to stay and play after the ceremonies are complete.

3:30 p.m. Opening Ceremonies, Dedication and Ribbon Cutting is set to begin.

4:00 p.m. Take-down.

We look forward to meeting all of you! Thank you again for your support, your participation and the opportunity to help create a better place for our children, families, friends and community.

Additional Information

· WHAT TO WEAR: Dress for activity, although none of the work is overly strenuous, you should be dressed for working around the “yard”... you are going to get dirty and want to dress for it...please no open toe shoes or sandals. Please bring work gloves if you have them!

· FIRST AID and PORT-A-POTTIES: First aid booths and port-a-potties will be located in the Heartland Funeral Home/Pem-Co parking lot

Art Space Created

When it rains.... we pour!!!

Pictured here are workers preparing the site by pouring cement for the retaining wall on the south side of the park.

Interestingly, this wall when dry and ready, will be Innisfail's newest art space which will allow impermanent, ongoing free expression. Bring wall paint and be the first to make a mark.