Our playground at the Be Brave Ranch has been on quite the adventure. If only those monkey bars could talk; they would have quite the story to tell!
When we took over the property at the Be Brave Ranch in 2013, the playground was located at the back of the property by 2 houses we weren’t using. The kids and staff would make the trek down there to have some fun playing. Or try to. As a lot of bugs and ants seemed to have made their home in the wood and ground cover. Sadly, we had to close down the playground.
We thought with the right help, we could move the playground up to a wide-open grassy area closer to the cabins that children actually stayed in. PCL stepped up to help us and made quick work of getting the playground moved and set up for the children at the Ranch. However, we didn’t know that grass was not an acceptable ground cover and the Health Inspector had us close the playground down until we could replace the grass with an acceptable ground cover.
Our friends from the PCL Edmonton Building team once again stepped up and tapped on shoulders and assembled their crew of trade contractors and suppliers to donate labour, material and equipment to complete the structure modifications, concrete curbing and ground cover for the entire playground. It was a massive undertaking! Thanks to Barrie Bridgeman from the Little Warriors Resource Committee for being the project manager and coordinating everything!
The kids are SO excited! Where the playground sits now is in the heart of the property and has easy access from the cabins and the main lodge.
We then had an urgent need to upgrade the fall surface under the playground structure. We had some amazing donors step up to donate funds ad we had many people support our online 50/50 raffle. We were finally able to raise the funds to complete the project.
We are so happy that the playground has passed the inspection and it will be AMAZING to see the children and teens (and Rugby) playing on it day in and day out while they enjoy their recreation breaks. View pictures from the Ribbon Cutting ceremony here.
We have so many companies and individuals to thank for this project. From the bottom or our hearts, THANK YOU to:
Andrew Brennan, Superintendent, PCL
Kevin Burghardt, Senior Project Manager, PCL
Barrie Bridgeman, Little Warriors Resource Committee
Guy Mersereau, Little Warriors Resource Committee
A & H Stell Ltd.
Alberta Environmental Rubber Products
Alberta Screw Piles Ltd.
Badger Daylighting
BCM Express
Blacktop Paving Inc.
Brock White Canada
CanWest Concrete Cutting & Coring Inc.
G.E.M.Inc./Euroshield Roofing
GFL
Hagen Surveys (1982) Ltd.
Hilti
IVIS
Lafarge
Maverick Inspection Ltd.
Wayne McNeil, Raymond James Ltd.
National Concrete Accessories
Nelson Lumber
Norfab MFG (1993) Inc.
PCL Construction Management Inc.
Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona
Royal Rubber Stamp
Salisbury Greenhouse
Sokil Transportation
Soldan Fence and Metals Ltd.
TerraPro Inc.
United Rentals
Vallen
Weinrich Contracting Ltd.
