Vote during Round Up For Good!

KOOP needs your help! Owners of Common Ground Food Co-Op can select up to 12 organizations to receive Round Up For Good donations next year--- Include KOOP in your votes to bring even more play into our communities!

We so admire the work Common Ground does in the community and are happy to know many employees and board members as friends and supporters. We are thrilled to have been nominated and now need the votes to seal the deal! Help us send the message that Play is Important-- and needs specific, thoughtful and intentional provision.

After an amazing summer of providing more than 20 child- led play events at NO COST to the community, I find myself dreaming about the impact we can make next summer if we keep building and working towards a goal. I want to let you in on my vision...

Imagine a neighborhood that has no parks... surrounded by busy roads that can't be safely crossed.

Now imagine your own childhood... where did you play? Was it safe to walk there by yourself? Was there any assurance of safety once you arrived? Were there supportive adults there to help promote play, but not interfere or interrupt the play that was happening?

Those neighborhoods I was talking about, those "Play Deserts".... they exist. Right here in our wonderfully park- full cities. But we can offer those neighborhoods something... we can bring play to the kids and families who live there. And we can offer long- standing, dependable relationships with adults who care.

KOOP wants to activate abandoned or underused spaces for the purpose of community PLAY! We'll promote this space as a community gathering point, a safe spot for kids with or without parents. A supportive, trained playworker is dependably present to help with whatever comes along-- a cardboard box cut or big emotions or conflict or a band- aid-- but also present as an adult whose sole purpose is play provision and support children and youth on their individual levels using playwork philosophy.

Keep dreaming this dream with me.... more on this vision soon. In the meantime-- we need your VOTES to even keep visioning this play pod model for our cities.