Happy Summer! Well, summer is finally here and things have slowed a bit with vacations, but your playground committee is still hard at work in planning and fundraising for the upcoming build in October. Last Wednesday, June 8th, Missouri Foundation for Health sponsored a Gamin’ Ride Event at the Performing Arts Center Parking Lot from noon to 8pm. All students that were enrolled in Ava Summer School had the opportunity to come out and experience the ultimate interactive experience. Kids were able to participate in game competitions, laser tag, skill shooting, Sumo wrestling, bumper balls and even a dance off. Mario of Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers was even on hand to mingle with the kids and have photos taken. The playground project provided ice cold lemonade or water and popcorn to all of the kids and staff involved with summer school. Fun was had by all.
Perhaps some of you have noticed that we’ve been invaded by several flocks of Pink Flamingos around town. This is proving to be quite the attention grabber and generating much talk amongst the local businesses and residents. Here’s the low down on how it works if you haven’t heard or seen anything about it yet. There are two flocks of flamingos that each contain 25 birds and a sign that reads “You’ve Been Flocked”. One of the flamingos has a plastic bag tied around its neck with information on how to get them removed. The options are to donate a $25 removal fee and pick whose yard they will roost on next or you can choose not to participate and we’ll promptly remove them and take them to their next roost, since we’ve already developed a waiting list. Once you’ve been flocked you can add $10 for ‘Flamingo Insurance’ to insure they don’t come back. Professional flamingo removers (“flockers”) will come in the night to remove and flock the next person/business so when they wake up there is a wonderful pink surprise waiting. The kids are having a blast with it, the businesses are loving the attention and the publicity. Keep an eye out, you never know where these pink feathered friends will turn up next.
June also finds us back in the running for a $25,000 Pepsi grant through www.refresheverything.com. If you drink Pepsi products keep an eye out for the Power Vote codes under specially marked packages and bottle lids and enter them for a chance to get 5-100 additional votes per day towards the playground project. If you’re not voting but drink Pepsi products, please collect the Power Vote codes and get them to a member of the playground committee. You can vote daily by going to www.avaplayground.com and clicking the large pink VOTE NOW button. Also text daily 106876 to 73774.
We are still gathering volunteers of every type for the upcoming build. We are in need of 1500 volunteers to pull this off in a week (picture Extreme Home Makeover). To find out more information about the playground or how you can help, contact Jessica Jenkins @ 417-343-5703, visit our Facebook fan page or email us at avaplayground@live.com.
