Eagles for Children awards Oakland Family Services a grant to enhance natural playgrounds
Hal Zaima, co-founder of Eagles for Children, presents Kris Kasperski, director of Early Childhood Services at Oakland Family Services, with funding for the natural playgrounds at the Children’s Learning Centers.
The natural playgrounds at our Children’s Learning Centers will be expanded thanks to a $4,500 grant from Eagles for Children.
Oakland Family Services received the grant Nov. 21 during the 8th Annual Eagles for Children Awards Ceremony held at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills. The funding will be used to enhance and add to the current natural playgrounds at both the Pontiac and Walled Lake preschools. Natural playgrounds feature elements found in nature, such as tree stumps, logs, open grassy areas and space for creative play. Traditional playgrounds contain equipment like swings, monkey bars and slides.
“Play is an essential developmental tool that promotes social, physical, and emotional growth in children,” said Kris Kasperski, director of Early Childhood Services at Oakland Family Services. “Natural playgrounds assist in expanding children’s gross motor, social and imaginative play in a way that traditional, manufactured playgrounds do not.”
The grant, which was awarded through the Oakland Hills Country Club, will pay for adding bass drums, a wooden tunnel crawl, climbing arches and other equipment at the natural playgrounds.
Oakland Family Services was one of 86 grant recipients recognized at the event. Since 2012, Eagles for Children has been supporting organizations that benefit disadvantaged children one eagle at a time. Members of participating golf clubs pledge $2 for every eagle scored on their course during the season with the proceeds going to organizations serving children in the members’ own communities.
Eagles for Children has gone from raising nearly $40,000 in its first year to $605,591 this year.
“These are private clubs reaching outside of their gates, making a difference in the community, and we’re proud to be doing this,” said Don Kegley, co-founder of Eagles for Children.
Oakland Family Services is thankful for the financial support it has received from Eagles for Children over the past few years. In 2015, the agency was awarded $9,287 to start the Pontiac natural playground. In 2017, the agency received $8,314 to refurbish the toddler room at the Children’s Learning Center in Pontiac, and last year Eagles for Children awarded Oakland Family Services $5,000 to replace furniture in a 3-year-old classroom at the preschool with new, developmentally appropriate furnishings and classroom materials.
