Fulfilling Dreams at the Charlotte Playground Build

The sun was shining, music was blasting and the energy was palpable as hundreds of corporate volunteers got out of the office to slide into a day full of hands-on projects.

On Friday, April 19, more than 240 volunteers from 17 local companies came together to build and install a brand new playground at Westerly Hills Academy as part of the 19th Charlotte Playground Build.

Since the early 2000s, companies have banded together across the community to support local schools through the playground build. The generosity of each company involved spans beyond a sponsorship to fund the build as they participate with sweat and elbow grease to make the dream of a new playground become a reality.

“We are truly so honored to have each of you here and we are super excited and proud to be part of your playground build,” Principal Kiesha Pride said.

“We are growing and doing great things here at Westerly Hills Academy so thank you for being here today to be a part of that.”

In addition to the new playground, volunteers went to work building new picnic tables and benches, painting murals on the hallway walls, planting flowers and more.

Special thank you to this year’s sponsors:

Presenting Sponsors

• Carolina Complete Health
• Financial Independence Group

Playground Sponsors

• Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority
• First Horizon Bank
• Frito-Lay
• Lowe’s
• Novant
• Safelite

Swing Sponsors

• BASF
• Charlotte Center City Partners
• JE Dunn Construction
• Messer Construction
• Salesforce
• Segra
• Steel-Fab
• Zachry Group

Sandbox Sponsor

• First National Bank

Thank you to Charlotte Community Toolbank, LK Productions, Cunningham Recreation and Raukell Robinson and Ana Brown from CMS for your help making this day a success.

We are always blown away by our volunteers for all their hard work and by our sponsors for their support. The students are going to love how you made their school an even more vibrant space to learn and play!

View photos from the event, see a snippet from the day or check out the stories from The Charlotte Observer and WCCB Charlotte.

If you or your team is interested in being part of a future playground build, contact Bob Young at byoung@unitedwaygreaterclt.org.