GREAT FALLS — Alliance For Youth has introduced a new all-inclusive playground for the Great Falls community, marking the completion of a 13-month project that brought together donors, volunteers, and tradespeople.
The playground serves children who attend the Alliance For Youth center and neighborhood kids who utilize the organization's services.
Justin Robicheau reports - watch the video here:
"We just feel incredibly blessed that all of the time, talent, and resources came together to make this happen in such a short amount of time," said Kristy Pontet-Stroop, director of Alliance For Youth. "And now we have a beautiful, inclusive, fun, safe space for not only the kids that come to our center, but also for the neighborhood, so it's wonderful."
"We have great community members that donate to Alliance For Youth, and they really pulled through for us," said Sarah Bloomgren, a fundraising committee member and board member with Alliance For Youth. "It actually was a pretty smooth process. It only took about 13 months, which is pretty phenomenal."
"It was really the community that came together again," Pontet-Stroop said. "We had people with the talent of, you know, Steve L’Heureux, who did the design of this project for us for free. We had people with connections that helped us get the resources to build it."
The playground adds to Alliance For Youth's existing services, which include meals and various programs for the youth.
"Also for the kids in the community, for them, our neighboring kids, we have lots of neighboring kids around here at Alliance For Youth that come and they get a meal here, they get some services here, and now they have an additional space that they can enjoy and be safe in," Pontet-Stroop said.
Alliance For Youth is at 3220 11th Avenue South; click here to visit the website.
