A new place to play

Malorie Janis
University News Services
(804) 827-0889
mgjanis@vcu.edu

Virginia Commonwealth University's Virginia Treatment Center for Children has received a fresh, new, colorful playground thanks to the helping hands and donations from two Richmond community organizations.

For the past three years, the Richmond Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction and the Richmond Women's Business Consortium (RWBC), along with their member groups, have dedicated their time to fund raising, and buying and installing the equipment and play area. They have created a unique playground in the VTCC courtyard with brightly colored equipment, a raised sand-bed, raised planters and a new swing set area.

The dedication took place Thursday, Oct. 5, and was attended by RWBC and NAWIC officials, volunteers, as well as VTCC and VCU Medical Center staff.

"Our vision for this project has been to create a place where kids could be kids," said Brian Meyer, Ph.D., executive director of the VTCC. "The most normal thing for a kid to do is to play, and what better place is there to do that than a playground?"

"We are extremely grateful for all the donations, time and hard work" that went into the making of this playground, he said.

The equipment and play area replace previous equipment that was constructed of wood, splintered easily and was not adequate to support the number of children who use the courtyard daily.

It took the RWBC-NAWIC committee two years to raise the $30,000 needed to purchase the equipment. They sold T-shirts at various fund-raising events, including a Shrimp Fest at The Boulders, a Silent Auction at the Bull & Bear Club, a Gigantic Yard Sale and a Walk for the Children of VTCC.

"The time, the fund raising, all the hard work this project demanded was worth it. This playground will bring a lot of fun for the children at the VTCC," said Ashley Hines, a member of the Richmond Chapter of NAWIC who helped spearhead the VTCC Playground Project.

There also were monetary donations from event sponsors and corporate sponsors throughout the fund-raising phase, including KBS Inc., East Coast Glass Systems Inc. and Capital Relocation Group Inc.

In addition, many local construction-oriented businesses made substantial in-kind donations of time, materials, equipment and labor during the construction phase. Chief among these was J. E. Liesfeld Contractor Inc., who performed the site work. Others included Gillies Creek Industrial Recycling, Luck Stone Corp., Louis Smith Construction, Capital Door Systems Inc., S.B. Cox Inc., Ferguson Enterprises, RSC Rentals, Vulcan Materials Co., Collier Sod Service, Old Dominion Glass Inc., Home Depot and Butler's Landscaping. 

Part of the VCU School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, the Virginia Treatment Center for Children has been providing mental-health services to the children, adolescents and families of Virginia for more than 40 years. VTCC offers a wide range of psychiatric services and works to improve the mental health of all Virginians through patient care, education and research.

For more information, call 828-1123, or visit http://www.vcuhealth.org/vtcc/index.html.