St. Helena Catholic School
WorldLegacy’s NC166 Leaders built a playground for St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota the weekend of Nov. 3-5, 2017. This project was accomplished in spite of freezing temperatures, snow and rain. In order to install the playground and court items, temperatures needed to be at least 45 degrees. The large painted asphalt games required at least 24 hours to cure in above 45 degrees temperatures.
As the temperatures plummeted, the team realized that the project could only be accomplished by building above ground enclosures to create conditions that were dry and warm. In effect, a second project was designed and implemented in less than 24 hours to accomplish the first project!
The above ground enclosures were created using 10,000 pounds of scaffolding ($550), 9,000 square feet of plastic ($1750), 500 pounds of propane ($1000), and three propane heaters. Once the enclosures were constructed, the ground was dried with squeegees, mops, newspapers and propane torches. Volunteers were present all night long to enable the propane heaters to be operational for the entire project.
In less than three days the final playground included:
A Basketball half-court modular tile system with Timberwolves logo ($10,000)
Basketball hoops and posts ($7,000).
A Rainbow playground structure ($10,500) including a slide, two swings, tire-swing, climbing wall, rope ladder, and rings.
A Comet playground structure ($3,000).
A Pickleball court painted on asphalt (44’x18’) ($1500).
Five games painted on asphalt in a 25’x25’ area: two hopscotch boards, two bean bag toss rings, and a Twister board.
Two swing sets ($7,000).
Four composite stepping stone posts ($2,000).
A semi-truck and fire truck on site for children ($3900).
A park bench ($700)
Budget: $65,000
