“Right from the building, we weren’t just about building playgrounds. We were about building community.”
That quote is from the founder of KaBOOM! Darell Hammond. I love the name KaBOOM! because it’s fun – just like playgrounds. Fifteen years ago Hammond decided to start building playgrounds and has since built 1800 of them! Now there are about 75 on staff at the company and last year they brought in $21 million in revenue. Not bad.
KaBOOM also involves the community in planning and implementing the plans for a new playground. I love how he describes how this has a spillover effect. Once people see what they can accomplish together they want to do more.
Perhaps a lot of the genius besides involving the community is involving brands. They started with Home Depot and have been supported by brands like: Kraft, 24-Hour Fitness, Foresters (a Canadian insurance company), Huggies, JetBlue, KoolAid, Mutual of Omaha and MetLife, the NBA, Nestle and Giant/Stop & Shop.
The company decided to go open source and green. We hope that includes safe, recycled rubber for their playground surfaces! Whatever they do, it’s great work!
Next time you need a playground, be sure to look at KaBOOM! let the news media know and realize that you’re not only building a playground, you’re building your community.
Read more here: http://www.marcgunther.com/2010/08/24/kaboom-what-an-impact/
Related articles
- KaBOOM! issues “Park a Day” Summer Challenge (rubberecycle.com)
- Kids in Nebraska Help Design Their Own Playground (rubbermulch.com)
- Foresters, KaBOOM! & Volunteers Build New Playground for Calgary Children (newswire.ca)
