Is there anything more important than giving kids a place to play? We might not give it much thought, but

play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength.

It’s so so important to their overall development you neednt go far to find research that supports it. As a former daycare teacher, as well as a junior and senior high teacher I know this all to well and I’ve seen the difference it can make. Having grown up in Cape Breton myself I know just how much this initiative means to the people of North Sydney and I couldn’t have been more honored to attend the #Placetoplay event last weekend.

Last Saturday, Kraft Heinz gathered together the local community for a super fun event to celebrate their donation of $ 250,000 to help upgrade and repair Munro Park. The Kraft Heinz Project Play submissions are done by nomination, and helps to support play based facilities all across Canada, one of which being the Munro Park Soccer field. Having won the Kraft Heinz Project Play in 2015 Munro Park was granted a $ 250,000 makeover, so of course we had to celebrate.

 

From hot dogs, to hamburgers there was no shortage of food to enjoy thanks to the Atlantic Superstore donation of $500 towards the event.

Plenty of vendors from Nabob Coffee to Philidelphia, Tang and Kool Aid were on site to also hand out samples and coupons to locals. Having driven 5 hours to get there I was pretty appreciative of the coffee, and I’m sure the parents were too!

Along with the food vendors there were also games onsite for the kids from the Kraft Cheese Tower (kind of like jenga), PB Connect Four Game, and TSN Soccer Inflatable! Complete with a Ribbon Cutting, a Cheque Presentation (to represent the donation), and of course a speech by the local Mayor.

It was so amazing to see kids playing together and having the best time. Kids were grinning from ear to ear. Watching them dance and have fun with fiddle player Colin Grant and DJ Jason Chapman really reminded me just how special growing up in Cape Breton truly is.

Anyone from the area would know that this field has been in need of a facelift for quite some time. Because of the hard rocks in the soil water would get trapped on top and there were times that after a rainfall the field would collect so much water that it would resemble a pond more than a field, thus making it very difficult to play soccer.

From soccer fields to rec centres, basketball courts and playgrounds, Kraft Heinz believes that maintaining our local recreational facilities is critical to the future of our communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast.

Kraft Heinz Project Play’s mission is to help improve communities by building better places to play and improve Munro Park they did. During my chats with the Kraft Heinz team I learned that there was some significant work done to the field, and most notably underneath it. The hard rocks were removed from the soil below, and strategic trenches were built to filter out water, so no more impromptu ponds would settle in the middle of the field. YAY!

In addition to hosting the super fun event, Kraft Heinz also donated $ 150,000 worth of food donations to the area. A donation so great the facility had to donate some of the food to surrounding areas of CBRM.

Kraft Heinz Project Play 2017 will be back on July 7th, where communities can nominate a recreation facility that is in need of an upgrade. Nomination are open from July 7th to August 18th – after that, it’s time for Canada to vote on their top 10 facilities.

I always say we vote with our dollars, and it’s always amazing to see brands of this caliber give back to communities in need! Round of applause for Kraft Heinz for their amazing donation to Munro Park, and for putting on an amazing event.

If you know of a community in need be sure to nominate them for Kraft Heinz Project Play

xx

Kayla

 

This blog post was sponsored by KraftHeinz but the opinions are completely my own based on my experience.”