By Melissa McGraw
Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp.
The Parent Teacher Organizations of Gompers Elementary School and Black Hawk Middle School started the Growing Together Initiative in 2010 with a mission to enhance the environment and play space at the schools. In the past four years, they have successfully raised funds to create a community garden and install a playground in front of the building. New playground equipment for the grounds behind both schools was a bigger, multiyear project; and many community donors stepped up to help make it happen.
Just before Thanksgiving, Black Hawk and Gompers students, teachers and staff gathered at a special assembly where a major gift from Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates was announced. Cheers rang out when Great Lakes employees presented a check for $68,000, the final amount needed to make the back playground a reality.
“We are thrilled to be in a position to install ew playground equipment at our schools,” said Sean Storch, principal of Black Hawk Middle School. “It is an asset for our children and our community that will be used for decades, and an important piece of our continued facilities improvement.”
The new playground will feature a top-of-the-line design by Gerber Leisure and will be installed during a one-day community build Saturday, May 9. Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) will remove the existing playground and Vogel Bros. Building Co. is donating equipment and labor to prepare the grounds for placement of the new playground after the spring thaw. MMSD also will provide landscaping following the playground build.
“This will be a community project, built by families for families,” said Sarah Chaja, principal of Gompers Elementary School. “A great big thank you goes out to all of you who have contributed to our new playground.”
The Great Lakes gift was made possible by the generosity of its employees. Donations to the company’s Unite for Our Communities campaign were matched with corporate dollars to benefit the Madison office’s adopted schools.
“Being able to top off the fundraising campaign and make this playground possible was the most exciting thing to happen in our Adopt-A-School program,” said Amy Kerwin, vice president of community investments at Great Lakes. “Together we are building a stronger Northside.”
Great Lakes is located just 2.5 miles from Black Hawk and Gompers and formed a partnership with them through the Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools Adopt-A-School program. Employees give generously throughout the year to help improve educational opportunities at Gompers and Black Hawk and provide lasting benefits to the community.