Hi, Lighthouse family! My name is Chloe. Along with my parents, Nathan and Joanne, and my brother Joshua, I’ve been attending Lighthouse for almost ten years now. I’ve also been a Girl Scout for those ten years. As part of my Girl Scout Gold Award Project, I’ve had the privilege of partnering with Lighthouse to do a playground beautification project. It’s been almost a year since the playground has been closed. I wanted to share with you what I’ve been doing at Lighthouse for the past few months.
Remember the boring concrete walls, the plain blacktop, and all the deflated balls none of the kids played with? The playground had an industrial feel and did not have a playful vibe. So for my project, my vision was to create a welcoming and lively outdoor environment for families, especially children, where they can gather safely in a nurturing environment, be excited about and look forward to upon returning to the church! As preparations are made to fully open, I hope that the playground can be a place where everyone can check up on each other, for friends to fellowship and eat with one another, and for children to share and play.
For the past several months, it’s been such a blessing and a joy to work on this project. I’m excited to share some of the enhancements to the playground!
First, a brand new four square! Lines painted, boxes colored in vibrant colors, and even some fun designs in each square.
Next, a newly painted hopscotch and a blacktop tic-tac-toe! Lines were painted for hopscotch with colorful numbers inside each box. For the tic-tac-toe board, the blacktop was painted in vibrant colors. New beanbags are organized in neat bins and labeled inside the ball bin for each of these games.
We have a new basketball court! New lines have been painted, the rim fixed, and a brand new net. All the old basketballs have been thrown out and replaced with new ones.
Did you even know we had a ball bin? It’s been thoroughly cleaned out. All the old and dirty deflated balls have been replaced with brand new basketballs, handballs, and four square balls that have been donated by our church family! The brand new beanbags for the hopscotch and tic-tac-toe games are also inside this ball bin.
A brand new mini-parking lot!! Before I started the project, I noticed how the ride-on toys were always left out all over the place. I found out the deacons come out to tidy up after the kids when service is over.
So, I painted a mini-parking lot and even added a cute sign just for the kids! I hope this allows a fun and practical way for the kids to organize their toys and clean up after themselves so leadership doesn’t have to clean up after them. And due to so many generous donations, I was able to add a couple plasma cars, a new trike, and a new scooter. I hope the kids have fun with the new ride-ons when they come back and that when they are done playing, they can park their ride-ons to keep the playground neat and organized!
Lastly, I painted two murals to brighten up the whole area. One of them is from Galatians 5:22-23 and it displays the Fruit of the Spirit. It’s one of my favorite verses. As we grow in love for God and each other during this time, we can also remember to grow individually in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The other mural is a love banner. As a church family, I hope that we can help each other to love God and others with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. I hope that everyone can be reminded of these truths.
I’m so grateful for all of the prayers, support, and generous donations from so many beloved families and friends to help me complete this project! I hope the church is excited about the new enhancements and that this is something the kids can look forward to upon returning to the church. I miss seeing my Lighthouse family. I hope to see many of you soon. Thank you!
