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The Merrill Park Playground Makeover #LetsPlayMilwaukee

While I pretty much always love my job and enjoy the opportunities to review products and experience new places, some projects wind up claiming a piece of my heart and making me smile long after they are completed. My partnership with Dr Pepper Snapple Group, KaBOOM!, and the folks of the Merrill Park Neighborhood on the is one of those projects.

merrill park thank you

Let me bring you up to speed in case you are new to Wisconsin Mommy. It all started back last winter when I was invited to sit in on a webinar that brought me behind the scenes at Dr Pepper Snapple group. I learned all about how they come up with flavors and also about their philanthropic programs including Let’s Play, one that helps to provide playgrounds to under-served communities.

 

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A few months back, I shared that I was invited to become involved in Dr Pepper Snapple Group and KaBOOM!’s local project with Milwaukee’s own Merrill Park. I attended the first planning meeting and followed along as an amazing group of people took this idea and turned it into a actual physical reality. It was an incredibly inspiring experience and one that will definitely go down as a favorite project in my heart.

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All of the planning meetings culminated in Build Day on September 12th. While it is true that the actual building had the playground up in just a matter of hours, I don’t want to gloss over the amount of work the committee put in ahead of build day. In addition to physical meetings, they held weekly planning calls and put in several days of prep digging holes and cutting wood so that build day could go smoothly.

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Build day was amazing. We lucked out with one of those gorgeous fall days Wisconsin can provide – not too hot or too cold, bright and perfect. It’s one of those experiences that is hard to describe. I tried to capture some of it here:

As you can see, the volunteers were incredibly hard workers. I spent most of my time trying to stay out of their way as they hustled and transformed the area before my very eyes. I loved how everyone used their unique talents to help make the day a success including an exec’s wife who held the fort down at the First Aid table even after being stung by a bee herself!

I also loved watching all the different members of the community working together – seeing the Milwaukee police hauling mulch along side the students from Marquette University High School was a great sight.

Learn more about the different organizations that helped makeover the Merrill Park Playground:

Dr Pepper Snapple Group

KaBOOM!

Good Sports

and be sure to check out Nicole’s post about her experience at a similar build in Texas.

Comments | 19 comments

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Comments

  1. Rena McDaniel says

    September 22, 2015 at 8:00 am

    It’s always nice when an older park gets a new makeover! I’m sure the kids really appreciate the efforts! It’s looks great!

    Reply
  2. Vera Sweeney says

    September 22, 2015 at 11:35 am

    What a fun makeover project to take part in! I hope to see this happen in more communities around the country.

    Reply
  3. Melissa says

    September 22, 2015 at 2:16 pm

    I really love that the community pitches in on these types of projects. This gives everyone a chance to get to know each other better.

    Reply
  4. Dina says

    September 22, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    I love to see communities getting together and working as a team for the better of the town. This is so awesome to see their project come to fruition!

    Reply
  5. NAZMA IQBAL says

    September 22, 2015 at 2:36 pm

    What a beautiful project.This kind of project is really something good to improve our societies and our involvment in society

    Reply
  6. Liz Mays says

    September 22, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    Wow they’re doing something so good for the community. It’s so cool that everyone from police officers to students was involved.

    Reply
  7. Alli says

    September 22, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    It’s so refreshing to see companies come together to build something to help out a community. So great that the police officers and students helped, too – truly a community project. Great job!

    Reply
  8. Danielle K says

    September 22, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    This is so awesome that there were so many great volunteers to help with this. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of happy kids.

    Reply
  9. Jenn @ EngineerMommy says

    September 22, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    What a wonderful group effort! As a mom of 2 young kids, I love a good playground makeover! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Stefany says

    September 22, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    What an amazing opportunity that must have been. I love being able to help my community.

    Reply
  11. Franc Ramon says

    September 23, 2015 at 1:20 am

    It’s nice seeing community working in unison for the play ground. I’m sure they were able to do it faster and also had more ideas from their collective minds.

    Reply
  12. Angie says

    September 23, 2015 at 8:07 pm

    So cool! It’s good to see corporations give back to the community like that. Usually, the people volunteering get a lot out of those experiences as well!

    Reply
  13. Yona Williams says

    September 23, 2015 at 10:04 pm

    I’ve actually been thinking about ways to give back to my community, and being a volunteer for something like this looks like a lot of fun. I will have to look into what is available for me to participate in.

    Reply
  14. ricci says

    September 23, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    What an awesome thing to be a part of! Think of how many lives you helped change by being a part of that playground redo!!

    Reply
  15. Britni says

    September 24, 2015 at 8:48 am

    This is amazing! I had the chance to help build a playground back when I was in high school as a service project and it’s one of those experiences that will stick with me forever.

    Reply
  16. christina aliperti says

    September 24, 2015 at 9:00 pm

    My son participated in the building of a playground. Even though they moved quickly, a ton of work went into making it happen. My son was exhausted but proud. what a great thing to be a part of!

    Reply
  17. XmasDolly says

    September 28, 2015 at 6:07 pm

    Isn’t it wonderful to donate your time for a good cause such as this. What a great job they did for all those children, and the community. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  18. Peachy @ The Peach Kitchen says

    October 14, 2015 at 3:56 am

    It’s such a nice program to provide for playgrounds in a certain area. I was once a part of a campaign like that from J&J

    Reply

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Maureen Fitzgerald of Wisconsin Mommy

Maureen Fitzgerald is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin influencer, brand enthusiast and strategist. She helps brands reach more potential customers through targeted consultation sessions, press coverage, product reviews and campaigns both at WisconsinMommy.com and by leveraging her blogger network. You can also see Maureen hamming it up on her YouTube channel at WisconsinMommy.tv. READ MORE...
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