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2007 Racing to Play - Charlotte
Racing to Play is a partnership between The Home Depot, Joe Gibbs Racing and KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit organization whose vision is to create a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. During the program’s third year, we’re building 10 more racing-themed playgrounds in select NASCAR race markets. By the end of the 2007 NASCAR season, we’ll have built 30 racing-themed playgrounds. CVAN assists more than 250 children each year. The shelter’s previous playground equipment was more than 15 years old and needed upgrades after years of heavy use. The new playground was designed based on drawings by the children who are served by CVAN, and I think they did a good job. The playground has swings, an s-shaped crawl tube, a solar climber, mountain crawl and funnel adventure tubes, two slides, a spring-rider sidewinder cycle, a rock wall and lots of other fun things to explore. I brought along a lot of help from Joe Gibbs Racing, including: J.D. Gibbs, president, and other employees from the front office, shop and crew members from the #20 Home Depot Racing team, #18 Interstate Batteries Racing team and #11 FedEx Racing team. We assembled the swings and all of the racing-themed signs and banners on the playground. In addition to the playground, we had a lot of other projects going on to help spruce up CVAN. We built four new benches and two picnic tables. We also installed new landscaping and a retaining wall around the playground. One team of volunteers spent the day working on an interior playroom – they built bookshelves, painted and worked to make the room new again for the kids. I’d like to express a special thanks to Brian Vickers, driver of the #83 for Red Bull Racing, and his teammates who volunteered to help us build the playground today, including: Phillip Norris, front tire changer; Shaun Peet, jack man; Aaron Schields, front tire carrier; Dustin Necaise, rear tire changer; Eric Groen, rear tire carrier; Mike Metcalf, catch can; Doug Newell, gas man; Ben Cook, strength and conditioning coach; and Greg Miller, pit crew coach. This year, I put out an open invitation to other NASCAR drivers and crew teams to participate in the Racing to Play builds. Brian and his team jumped at the chance. They got their hands dirty today building the rock blocks and the playground welcome sign. We may be competitors on the race track, but on a day like today, we’re all on the same team. Thanks, Brian and the #83 Red Bull Racing team. Racing to Play will build the fourth playground of the year on June 14 in Detroit with the non-profit organization Communities in Schools. Visit www.kaboom.org to learn how to have a playground built in your community. Through Racing to Play – we’re not just building playgrounds – we’re building dreams. Let’s Go Play!
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Racing to Play made a pit stop in Concord, N.C., just outside of Charlotte on May 17 to build a new racing-themed playground at CVAN, Cabarrus County’s shelter for battered women and their children. More than 250 volunteers from local The Home Depot stores and the community joined together to build the playground in just six hours. It was a busy day, but more than worth it when you saw how excited the kids were about their new play space.
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