Several community volunteers along with members from the Greater Waterbury Leadership joined forces to help bring a socially distant playground to life for the students of Children's Community School on Saturday.
The community effort is a part of Greater Waterbury's Leadership Program, W.I.P. Squared also known as "We're Improving Perceptions by Completing Your Work in Progress."
"Waterbury in a sense has fallen on some hard times and from a community perspective needs a little bit of uplifting type of event," said Carolyn Freer, a 2020 graduate of the leadership program. "We wanted to provide students with a playground that's both safe and allows them to be proud of where they live."'
United Way's Upstarters was one of the groups helping out with pulling up weeds and painting the playground. Maddie Dipernia and Lily Kernan are a part of Upstarters and woke up early on Saturday morning to help transform the school's parking lot into a makeshift playground.
"We're giving the kids the opportunity to have fun without worrying about their surroundings," said Maddie Diperna. "It just warms my heart to see all of the hard work that we're doing and seeing that other kids will get to enjoy that," said Lily Kernan.
School staff said the early wake-up call and heavy lifting are worth it especially when the students get to see the new playground.
"I can hear them squealing and jumping around," said Lynn Curless, Director of Development at Community's Children. "It makes you feel good to see something nice and I believe the staff and hardworking children deserve it.'
