The Boys & Girls Club at the Dean A. Eastman/Fairfield Clubhouse received a new outdoor playground made out of recycled toys and other plastics, standing now on what was before a dirt lot in front of the building.
The donation, which came as a surprise to the local kids, comes from a collaboration between TerraCycle and children’s entertainment company Spin Master through a free recycling program that allows people to donate their Spin Master toys to be salvaged and reused.
The companies held a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at the clubhouse, where the children rushed to the playground to climb, hang, and slide off the new equipment.
“What’s amazing about it is that we’re taking original play and turning it and recycling it into new play experiences for kids,” said Tammy Smitham, Spin Master vice president of corporate citizenship.
Spin Master has an ongoing partnership with the Boys & Girls Club, supporting art programming, career counseling and development because they want to “inspire kids to invent and imagine,” said Smitham.
“We have a shared belief that every child deserves to grow, learn and explore through play, and this gives you another venue to that end,” said Smitham.
The clubhouse only had an indoor playground before the new donation, and the Boys & Girls Club encouraged outdoor play in their curriculum, Smitham said.
“When they saw that it was being built… how excited they were to finally get an opportunity to try it out and give it a spin, so it’s been wonderful for the kids,” said Don Rodriguez, CEO at Boys & Girls Club of Long Beach.
The new play set took about one week to install, and they are waiting until the rainy weather fully passes to put in the wood paneling and finishing touches, according to Smitham.
The Boys & Girls Club Dean A. Eastman/Fairfield Clubhouse is located at 700 E. Del Amo Blvd.