A playground set donated to non-profit organization Kids Around the World has gotten a new lease on life in Costa Rica this year. 
The Plainfield Park District donated the equipment to make way for a new playset at Heritage Meadows Park in the summer of 2019.
Volunteers from the Rockford-based organization removed it in July last year then refurbished it with new paint, hardware, and ground extensions, before shipping it off for its second life.
In previous years, a volunteer crew usually flies with the playsets to their new destinations and work to set them up in their new homes.
However, in 2020, with a pandemic raging, and travel from the U.S. restricted, local volunteers in Desamparados, Costa Rica set up the play equipment on their own at a church there.
The project was funded by the Zachary Foundation said Tim Clauson, Director of Playgrounds for Kids Around the World, who oversees the removal and restoration of the old playsets.
“We were going to send a team down but with the travel restrictions we could not so the local community built the playground on their own,” he said via email.
Playgrounds donated by the Plainfield Park District have gone to communities around the world impacted by war, poverty, disease, or natural disaster and provide an opportunity for kids to play.
Previously donated Park District playground equipment has travelled all over the globe. A set removed from Village Green Park in 2019 is now in Guyana, and other playgrounds sets are now in Jamaica, Uruguay, Haiti, and Iraq.
