New opportunities for play on the far east side

Yesterday morning at around 8:30, volunteers began streaming into the parking lot of the Carriage House East Apartments on Indianapolis’ Far Eastside to begin building a new playground for the residential area. These volunteers represented the Finish Line Youth Foundation, the Glick Fund, and residents of the Carriage House Eastcommunity. 

In June, children from the apartments and surrounding Far Eastside community drew their ideas of a dream playground. From these ideas, the KaBOOM! organization proposed 3 designs and residents of the community decided on the one that they wanted to see built. 

The project is part of an ongoing effort to create safe spaces for community engagement and physical activity in Greater Lawrence and the Far Eastside . The playground build was funded and facilitated by Glick Philanthropies in partnership with Finish Line Youth Foundation and KaBOOM!, a national non-profit working to ensure that all kids get a childhood filled with balanced and active play. Yesterday’s build was the third build supported by the Finish Line Youth Foundation and Finish Line volunteers, with two other playgrounds built at Warren Early Childhood Center and Post Road Christian Church. 

Earlier this year, Glick Philanthropies also broke ground on a new community center that will be located in the Carriage House East community. The $2 million facility will consist of a 10,000 square foot multipurpose room that will house fitness classes, a teaching kitchen, and an arts and crafts STEM room where kids will be able to take classes. Glick’s involvement allowed the playground project to include a brand new community garden that will be located right door. The goal is for residents of the community to be able to take the food grown in the garden and learn how to cook it in the teaching kitchen located in the new community center, which is set to open in January of 2019. 

The Finished Product!

The opportunity to play safely is a necessity for children’s physical, social, and emotional development. This brand new playground and community center represent an exciting new opportunity for the residents of Carriage House East to allow their children to play in a fun and safe environment, and will hopefully encourage all residents of the community to become more active. 

All together, it took dozens of volunteers six hours to finish both the playground and the community garden. The new additions to the community look beautiful, offer children and neighbors a safe place to play and run, and will provide the community with fresh produce where there wasn’t any before. What a great addition to Carriage House East!