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Philadelphia-Philadelphia Housing Authority volunteers, students from the University of Pennsylvania and a Washington, DC based charitable organization have banded together to give one of PHA’s oldest sites a much needed brand new playground.
Oxford Village, a historic site located in Northeast Philadelphia at 6150 Algon Avenue, was lacking equipment on which residents’ children could safely play. The development, which dates back to World War II and was used to house defense workers, has 430 residents and over one-third of them are age 17 or younger.
“We are proud to join Make Kids Smile, volunteers from the University of Pennsylvania and our own residents and employees to bring this new playground to Oxford Village,” said PHA Executive Director Carl R. Greene. “Having a safe, well-equipped place to play is important to a child's happiness and overall well being.”
A family run charitable organization, Make Kids Smile, Inc., provided the playground equipment and a construction supervisor. They have been in existence since 1998. The organization is based in Washington, DC, and is the charitable affiliate of Ironwood Realty Partners, a commercial real estate business.
“Since inception, we have done a number of playgrounds in the Washington, DC, metro region, half of which were for DC public housing. That’s really where our heart is. We really want to help disadvantaged communities,” said Peter Ognibene, one of the company’s partners.
He believes it’s important to reach out so that young people can take part in healthy, safe activities. Ognibene was delighted when his daughter, April, an urban studies major at Penn, approached him about building a new playground at one of the PHA sites. She is a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a coed service fraternity at Penn that focuses on a wide range of projects throughout Philadelphia to promote leadership, friendship and service to the community.
April Ognibene wrote to PHA Executive Carl Greene, offering to build a playground on a PHA site. Alpha Phi Omega visited Oxford Village in early January.
“It was a perfect site because of the open space and the neighborhood has a lot of kids,” she said. “We had no trouble finding volunteers. I started asking people about a month ago and we filled all available spots in 24 hours. It’s a really great project. Very rarely do we do a volunteer project and build something from scratch.”
Renata Bakuseva, a sophomore and chemical engineering major from Boston, was excited to take part in the project.
“This is my first project where I’ll see something done from start to finish. Hopefully, it will have a major impact on the community,” she said.
The playground at Oxford Village is the first one that Make Kids Smile, Inc., has built outside the Washington, DC, metro area. Peter Ognibene said when the group raises money, it doesn’t necessarily commit the funds to a specific region. They just say they want to raise money so they can build playgrounds for children in disadvantaged communities.
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