Ravens host KaBOOM! Design Day with Local Community Youth
Children in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill community put forth their best architectural skills on Thursday (4/21) when the Ravens hosted a playground design day with members of the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council and organizers of KaBOOM!.
More than 40 local youth – equipped with drawing paper and crayons – filled the John Eager Howard Recreation Center to construct blueprints of their dream playgrounds. With encouragement from Ravens cheerleaders and Poe, the children drew up everything from rock climbing walls and football fields, to roller coasters and water slides.
The event marked the first step in preparing for the scheduled June 16 KaBOOM! playground build, which will transform the neighborhood's existing neglected play area with brand new structures and landscaping.
KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving play, works to ensure every child in America has a place to play by facilitating playground builds in communities across the country. With funding from the Ravens All Community Team Foundation, the Reservoir Hill community will see its outdated concrete park converted into every child's dream – literally.
With finished drawings in hand, the children presented their interpretations of the perfect playground to a committee comprised of volunteers from the community and the Ravens. The most popular elements and ideas will ultimately become a reality when they are integrated into the project's final design.
Ravens and M&T Bank Partner in Earth Day Service Project
For the second consecutive year, the Baltimore Ravens and M&T Bank joined together to host a service project in celebration of Earth Day.
On Friday (4/22), more than 75 volunteers collected in M&T Bank Stadium's Lot J to renovate the adjacent Warner Street section of Baltimore's historic Gwynn's Falls Trail – a continuous recreation corridor that connects over 30 neighborhoods in West and Southwest Baltimore.
Coordinated by Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, volunteers worked through the afternoon – and through the rain – to pick up trash, clear brush and lay fresh mulch around the existing vegetation. Members of the Ravens cheerleading squad even lent a hand in painting a mural along the trail's entrance.
The area, in close proximity to BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter), also saw the installation of a new dog waste station to cater toward the people and pets who regularly travel the trail.
The 2011 Earth Day service project was an extension of the Ravens' and M&T Bank's continuing efforts to remain environmentally conscious. Current initiatives include gameday recycling programs at the stadium and the team's Owings Mills training facility, in addition to M&T Bank's construction of eco-friendly branches.
