Welcome to the BPA Community Playground Build

 
Build Date: late November

Welcome to our home page!  We're so glad you dropped by. Come back often to check on our progress, and learn how you can volunteer to help us make the kids' dream a reality. We are Just getting started and would like to share our step-by-step process of planning and building our playground.  Our playground committee is composed of our principal, Dr. Gwendolyn Carter, our physical educator, Coach Jackson, parent volunteer, Victoria Sanders, our local school council member Anne Gelaude, our Linking Education and Public (LEAP) representative, Jennifer Mullins and various members of the LEAP community as well as teachers and staff of Burgess-Peterson Academy.  We are an elementary school within the Atlanta Public School System which recently merged two elementary schools into one.  We lost a lot of land space in the merge as well as our preschool playground. 

We have sent in the KaBOOM Home Depot application and the KaBOOM Playground Profile application and are awaiting news of  the grants.  In the meantime, plans are underway for our first, the Spring Games.  The community and school will participate in different games after school on Thursday,March 29th from 3pm - 5 pm.  We will also have a bake sale and all proceeds will go to the playground build fund day.

This pass weekend, students, parents and teacher participated in the Niketown 5K Run for Kids that gives back 100% of the entry fee to schools in the Atlanta area to promote active play.  This is a great opportunity for students to contribute funds ti the physical education program.  All of the funds once they are received will go to the playground build.  (See photos)

We had our telephone interview with KaBOOM last Friday and it went well!  Now that we have completed our second step in the selection process, we have stepped up our efforts to raise funds.  I was able to present our playground project to the East Atlanta Community Association and was well received.  From that meeting, one of the local store owners, TRADERS, presented an opportunity to raise funds.  Their policy is that on each Thursday in the month of April, they adopt a school and donate 10% of the retail sales for that day to a local school and Burgess-Peterson was adopted for the first Thursday of the month!  In addition, we can set up a bake sale outside of the store to make additional funds for our project!  This was after a 5 minute presentation!  One other vendor suggested putting donation cans in their stores for the playground build.  We are still working out the logistics to make this happen.  
Our second is a Rummage Sale set for April 28th.  Crafts as well as small household items (including small appliances and bookcases) will be for sale at rock bottom prices.  We have listed all of  our events in the local community newspaper, The Porch Press, so that the entire community can come out and support us.  Check back to see pictures from our events!

Spring Games a Huge Success!

Our first fundraiser at Burgess-Peterson netted a total of $834.93!  This was totally unexpected.  The teachers and staff as well as parents donated foodstuffs, plates, napkins and cakes for the bake sale to keep the students happy.  The playground committee organized the games and volunteers helped facilitate the two hour physical activity.  The weather cooperated with a nice, breezy, sunshine day even though the pollen was sky high.  When polled about their favorite activities, the students agreed, the football obstacle course and the team scooter relay were the best.  The smaller students enjoyed the potato sack races and the water cup fill.  Everyone loved the bubble station as well as the usual hula hoop, jump rope, bowling, basketball and beanbag throw.  Everyone wanted to stay longer but we were all too pooped to go longer after a long day at work.  We look forward to our next fundraiser; a bake sale in front of Traders - www.tradersatlanta.com  with 10% of  the proceeds of the day donated by Traders to the playground fund.  Thank you Traders for your generosity!  Many thanks to all who participated to make this a smashing start to our goal of $15,000. 

Second Bake Sale a Success!

For the past 2 weeks, the temperatures in Atlanta have been in the 70's and on the day of our bake sale, the temperatures dropped to the high 40's - low 50's.  Even in that cool weather, our parent volunteers braved the elements and at the end of the day had collected $201.00!  And this is without the donation from Trader's  receipts for that day.  The East Atlanta Community chipped in their time and PTA members stopped by to lend their support.  Special Thanks to Mr. Mike Thomas, PTA vice-president and Mrs. Vera Lindsey, parent liasion for setting up and attending the table the entire time; from 11am - 4:30 pm.   We are now over the $1000 mark and look forward to hearing from Traders about their donation.  Our next fundraiser will be a rummage sale on April 28th in the school parking lot.  
UPDATE!! Today, Traders sent me an email to inform me that they are donating $250.00 to our playground fund!  Absolutely wondeful!  Thank You Traders for your support! 

 More Community Support for our Playground Build

The BPA Art Club decorated plastic jars to be placed inside local businesses for donations from the patrons.  This was one of the ideas that members of the East Atlanta Business Association (EABA) suggested as a way to raise funds for the build.  The aspiring artists, ages 6-10, decorated 10 jars with their ideas of what their playgound would look like as well as a picture of the bare play area.  Thank you EABA for your continued support.A donation of $500.00 was given to BPA by a grant from Washington Mutual to the East Lake YMCA that was dispersed to local school that the YMCA service.  Dr. Carter, principal of BPA, has earmarked that the donation go to the playground build.  Little by little, the pot grows!  Thanks to the many facets of the community that support our efforts.

    Well, we didn't get the Playground Profile grant but we did get the Home Depot Grant for $5000.  Our Rummage Sale yeilded $882 and we plan to have another one before school ends.  At present, the principal is brainstorming other ways to raise funds.  We will meet tonight with the East Atlanta LEAP community to discuss upcoming events.  Tomorrow is WE PLAY! in Atlanta and Victoria Sanders and I will attend.  We look forward to this being another shot in the arm as a catalyst for the next phase of fundraising.  Ms. Sanders will attend the build at East Lake on Thursday to get an idea about what happens on build day.