Give to our Playground Fund
$36,760
Raised
53
Donations
$20,000
Goal
Play is an integral part of childhood fun. But it’s also essential for healthy brain development and can help children manage stress, stay fit, and even improve their test scores.1 You can help the kids at our early learning schools get the most from their daily play time when you give to the Northwest Center Playground Fund.
We’ve received a grant to help make critical updates to our playgrounds, but we need your support to close the gap.
Will you help us raise $20,000 to match our grant to keep our playgrounds safe and fun for kids of all abilities?
In 2022, we’re updating our playground equipment at both of our early learning schools. Your support will help us make critical improvements: replacing aging equipment, installing a cover at our Chinook school to give kids more outdoor time year-round, and adding equipment to give kids with and without abilities even more ways to play, learn, and develop together.
Read on for just one example of how the ability to play makes a huge difference.
Owen Needed a Place to Play. He Found a Place to Belong.
Before Owen came to Northwest Center, he was frustrated and acting out. “He had a lot of energy and a need for running, playing,” says his mom Rachel, but his preschool offered little play time. “He was hitting his head against the wall in frustration,” she remembers. So at just two years old, Owen was expelled.
Then Owen and Rachel visited Northwest Center, where Owen made a beeline for one of the play areas and joined right in playing with the other kids. “It was just what he needed,” his mom says. “He didn’t want to leave. I just cried with relief.”
Northwest Center gave Owen (shown here at one of our early learning schools) ample playtime plus strategies for managing his emotions and behaviors. Today, he is a happy fourth-grader reaching all the milestones for children his age.
You can help provide crucial play opportunities for more kids just like Owen. Please give to the Playground Fund by December 31.
When you give to the Northwest Center Playground Fund, you'll help children like Owen—kids who need a place to play and develop like every other child. Every child deserves the same chance to develop critical social-emotional and educational skills through play so they can reach their potential.
Please give to the Playground Fund by December 31.
1American Academy of Pediatrics, The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children (September 2018)
Donor Wall16
Pat and Lori Wiley | $1,000
Mamie and Aidan Marcuss | $1,000
Northwest Center is an amazing team - and the teachers and administrators at Chinook are wonderful!
Perry Weinberg | $75
Jessica D Rojas
On behalf of BECU's Achieving Disabilities Awareness Employee Resource Group
Brian & Karen McManus | $500
Thomas Hansen | $100
Peter Mager | $200
Laura Hupf | $100
Lisa Schubert | $500
Robbin O'Leary | $300
Jeraldine McCray | $100
Bruce Bannister | $500
Jim & Tracy Hartz | $1,500
Catherine Wyndam | $50
Nichole Basile
susan goldberg | $25