BRIDGEPORT — The new playground at the Louis L. Valentine Boys and Girls Club will appeal to a wider range of kids the club serves, thanks to a grant from a local bank.
The Boys and Girls Club at 3400 S. Emerald Ave. will unveil on Friday its new Sid Fieldman playground, which updates one installed years ago that mainly catered to the organization's previous daycare kids, said Dawn Jimenez, director of the club.
"I've been here 13 years. I'm not really sure when they existing playground was installed," Jimenez said. "It needed upgrades."
Thanks to a $50,000 grant from U.S. Bank, the new playground has features that can be used by older kids, like pre-teens, Jimenez said. Previously, those kids would play outside on the sidewalk for lack of space, she said. A $50,000 teen center was completed at the club in 2016.
The space now includes an 8-foot climbing wall, a half-baseball diamond including a pitcher's mound and two bases, plus an existing jungle gym and . It now has a recycled-tire floor and a water fountain so kids don't have to go inside for a drink, Jimenez said.
"They'll feel more welcomed at the space and it'll be safer," she said of the "tweens" who use the club.
Volunteers with the club and U.S. bank helped demolish the old space, and a contractor installed the new equipment.
"It was a ton of work and planning," Jimenez said. "It was for the kids. It was all worth it."
The club, founded in 1938, will host a ribbon cutting for the park at 2 p.m. The Chicago Blackhawks street team and mascot, Tommy Hawk, will be on hand, and kids games and refreshments will be served. A limited amount of school supplies will also be given out.
The Valentine Boys and Girls Club, 3400 S. Emerald Ave., will unveil its new playground Friday, Aug. 25. [DNAinfo/Ariel Cheung]
The Valentine Boys and Girls Club, 3400 S. Emerald Ave., will unveil its new playground Friday, Aug. 25. [DNAinfo/Ariel Cheung]