This week, Rodale Inc announced their support of a new community garden and playground at NYC's P.S. 19, the nation’s largest elementary school, in Corona Queens. Previously a asphalt lot, the new $1M P.S. 19 Community Playground was developed by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in partnership with NYC's PlaNYC initiative and HANAC Corona Beacon, along with private funding. “Rodale is honored to work with Mayor Bloomberg, The Trust for Public Land, and others in support of the new garden and playground at P.S. 19,” said Steven Pleshette Murphy, Rodale President and CEO. “We’re proud to bring our commitment to health and wellness to life for the benefit of the vibrant, energetic P.S. 19 community.” The playground, which includes a community garden, a running track, multi-purpose courts, a water play spray, trees, an amphitheater, benches, play equipment and painted games, will be accessible to the school’s nearly two thousand students, along with families from the surrounding community.
At the playground’s grand opening event on Tuesday, April 21, Rodale’s Organic Gardening team helped some of the school’s 4th & 5th graders plant vegetable seedlings and seeds. In addition, Organic Gardening is donating gardening books to P.S. 19 to enhance teachers’ lesson plans and bamboo for students to create and build a garden trellis. Scott Meyer, Exec Editor of Organic Gardening said, “School gardens are an invaluable outdoor classroom that give teachers the opportunity to engage students with practical lessons in math, science, history and geography. And research shows that kids who tend a garden are much more likely to eat healthy foods. That’s a priceless lesson that lasts a lifetime.”
(Photo credit Junius Salazar)
Outdoor play equipment is a critical part of raising every child's physical fitness level. From climbing to balance to raised heart rate.
Posted by: Outdoor Play Equipment | May 11, 2009 at 03:35 AM