What’s at the heart of a neighbourhood or community where families live with young children? It’s not the mall, or the grocery store or even the coffee shop. Often, it’s the local park or community centre.
Community spaces benefit kids of all ages. Parks are exciting places for toddlers, maybe one of the first places away from home where they can learn to clamber up on to the brightly coloured play structures, and zooming down the big slide for the first time is a milestone in itself. Older kids play grounders and tag with classmates and kids from other schools. Young teens, free at last from parents watching from a nearby park bench, occupy their after-dinner and after-homework hours at the skate park. The park on our street in Barrhaven is where I met most of our neighbours – it was the only place any of us were standing still in the same place long enough to share more than a cheery wave on the way past.
Some of my best childhood memories revolve around the parks and playgrounds in the neighbourhoods where I grew up. Back in those prehistoric days, our parents didn’t take us to the park – we’d ride our bikes there after dinner and play until the streetlights came on. On a lazy Saturday, we’d venture further afield, checking out the playground in the next neighbourhood over. It seemed like miles away, but looking back it was just a few blocks. I’ve still got that love of exploration, come to think of it!
The folks at Kraft and TSN seem to understand the importance of community spaces at the heart of a neighbourhood, because for the fifth year in a row they’ve teamed up for the Kraft Celebration Tour. They’re inviting Canadians to nominate their favourite community space to win $25,000 toward a community project that improves an existing space or helps create a brand new one. Playgrounds, skate parks, community centres, sports fields – they’re all eligible for this terrific project that supports both community gathering spaces and active living.
To nominate a community, Canadians are asked to submit a short essay and up to five photos explaining why their community deserves to be a part of the Kraft Celebration Tour and how the $25,000 community award will go towards the creation or improvement of a local community space. The essay should also touch upon how the award would help promote community spirit, a passion for sports, and an active lifestyle. You can read more about it on the “How it works” page on the tour website. You’ll have to move quickly if you want to nominate a community though – nominations are only being accepted through June 7. That’s next week!
I was curious to see if any local projects have been nominated so far. It looks like only one Ottawa project has been submitted, but it sounds like a wonderful cause to support. Three local elementary schools (Pleasant Park, Hawthorne and Marie Curie) have teamed up for a joint submission, seeking funds for playground equipment for their schools and neighbourhood. You can read more about it on their nomination page.
On June 30, TSN and RDS will announce the 20 finalists selected by a panel of judges. Then it’s up to Canada to decide the 10 winning Kraft Celebration Tour stops via 10 weekdays of head-to-head online voting beginning July 8. You can follow the tour and support your favourite nominees on the tour’s Facebook page, and you can read more about the tour on the Kraft Celebration Tour web page.
I love it when the opportunity for a sponsored post and a cause dear to my heart align! Will you make a nomination? If you do, please let me know so I can support your community!
Disclosure: I am participating in the Kraft Celebration Tour Blogger Campaign. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own.
We live by all three of these schools and cannot say enough about how much it would mean to the whole community to have new play structures. All the schools and parks in the area have aging infrastructure ad there are more and more young families moving in.
Marie Curie parent council is working so hard and we would love to see them have some success!