Volunteers needed to build playground

Volunteers are needed to help build a playground in one day for children at Langston Hughes Academy Charter School, which is located at 3519 Trafalgar Street in New Orleans. On Monday, Feb. 6, more than 200 volunteers from Verint® Systems, ACCENT on Arrangements, Inc., FirstLine Schools and Langston Hughes Academy Charter School, organizers from KaBOOM! and residents of the local community will join forces build a new playground at the school. The new playground’s design is based on drawings created by children who participated in a Design Day event in January.

Organizers say no experience is necessary, and there are jobs for people of all ages and abilities. Volunteers must pre-register by contacting lhakaboom@g­mail.com or (504) 307-2383.

The new playground will provide nearly 300 children in the community with a safe place to play. Currently, the children who attend Langston Hughes Aca­demy Char­ter School do not have a playground for students to enjoy.

The playground will be the first built by KaBOOM! and Verint and is one of more than 150 playground builds KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2012 in an effort to fulfill its vision of a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

The mission of Langston Hughes Academy Charter School is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and character traits necessary to succeed in high school, college and the world beyond. The academy’s goal is to send every student to college by preparing them for the best public and private high schools in the New Orleans area. To learn more about Langston Hughes Academy, visit www.lang­ston­hughes­aca­demy.org.

This article was originally published in the January 23, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper