The Hands Across the City initiative of United Methodist Metropolitan Ministry in Grand Rapids could already be considered a major success — even though it doesn’t take place until Aug. 7.
Through major advertising and promotional help from United Methodist Communications and some crucial networking with the city of Grand Rapids, Hands Across the City is expected to draw up to 1,000 volunteers to work at 15 city parks and public spaces.
What started off as an ever-evolving project to beautify and re-purpose over a dozen areas, now has the major centerpiece of building a KaBOOM! playground in Garfield Park estimated at roughly $70,000.
In a city that has seen the number of employees in its parks and recreation department go from 71 to 16 over the course of several years, this is a much-needed undertaking.
While Metro Ministry raised approximately $10,000 for the service project, Hands Across the City co-chair Kurt Kimball — formerly the Grand Rapids city manager for 23 years and a devout United Methodist — said his relationship with city and their willingness to help was a Godsend.
KaBOOM! is “a national non-profit dedicated to saving play for America's children,” utilizing community leadership and corporate sponsors that are willing to provide $50,000-$70,000 to fund playground projects.
Kimball said the prospect of finding a corporate sponsor or raising that kind of money seemed out of the question, but the city provided them with a different avenue to explore.
“Perhaps because of my association with the city we got the managing director who was in charge of community development block grants to amend a plan that they had for using block grants, so really the corporate sponsor in this case, the one providing the $69,300 is in fact the federal government’s community development block grants,” he said. “That’s atypical. There are four or five other kaBOOM! playgrounds in Grand Rapids and they have sponsors like Steelcase or whatnot.”
Kimball said while the partnership was surprising, it was really just the latest reminder that faith is much bigger than people often realize.
