FRAMINGHAM, MA- With generous donations from local businesses, community foundations, and individual donors, the Hemenway Community Playground Project prepares for Build Day – Saturday, May 20, 2006. Volunteers from the community will complete construction of the new playground at the Hemenway Elementary School under the supervision of equipment vendor Landscape Structures and M.E. O’Brien & Sons, Inc. of Medfield, MA.

WHAT: Volunteers and local community gather for playground build (donations of tools, time, food and materials still needed!)

WHEN: Saturday, May 20th, (Note: All times approximate):

• 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Volunteers Arrive; Project Kick-Off
• 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Best viewing of playground construction
• 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Final construction phase and adjustment

WHERE: Hemenway Elementary School www.hemenwayplayground.org, 729 Water St., Framingham, 01701

WHY: As the oldest and smallest playground of any elementary school in Framingham, Hemenway’s former playground was inadequate to meet the needs of the school’s 530 students, including more than 100 students with special needs. The new playground will triple the size of the previous one and include numerous events designed for use by all children regardless of age or physical ability.

To date, funding for the playground has come from numerous generous sources including parents, alumni, and community funding partners such as the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation Framingham Union Grants Panel, a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and a grant from the Framingham Disability Commission, Framingham Co-operative Charitable Foundation, Middlesex Savings Bank, Rotary Club, Mobil Education Alliance, Genzyme, Heritage Assisted Living, Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, Rick Smith, and the Rousseau Family.

Playground design, site planning, and civil engineering is donated by Geller DeVellis, Inc. (GDI), a landscape architecture and civil engineering firm with offices in Wellesley and Boston. GDI also specializes in American with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility design, which will exceed Massachusetts’ standards at Hemenway.

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