Green Streets to Get Active

By Manderley In the Community 0 Comments

For the second year in a row, Manderley was proud to supply Manderley Less Water Sod for the Come Alive Outside Green Street Challenge in Westport, Ontario. On June 30th, a team of volunteers transformed Fetch Murphy Way into a pop-up park for a full day of fun!

Volunteers were on hand to lead games, BBQ up a storm, and ultimately, promote outdoor play. Starting the day with just some sod, a parachute and a few accessories, the children got crafty and were able to come up with new games, obstacle courses and see first hand how much fun can be had outdoors with just a bit of creativity. Even the 40 degree heat couldn’t stop kids of all ages from the community from joining in on a day of activity!

The Green Street Challenge is designed to give communities the opportunity to celebrate the importance of outdoor, unstructured play by laying down sod and creating temporary parks on prominent streets in communities across North America.

The event is put on by Come Alive Outside, a non-profit organization that collaborates with partners in the landscape industry, like Landscape Ontario, in order to get people off the couch and back outside in communities across North America.

Their mission is simple: To inspire collaborative community systems that create the awareness, intention and opportunity for people to live healthier lives outside. Here are some of the reasons why they do, what they do:

  • “Children Spend half as much time outdoors as they did in 1980.” – University of Michigan
  • “9% of children get the recommended amount of daily physical activity.” – 2015 ParticipACTION Report Card
  • “25% of youth between ages 12 and 17 are overweight or obese.” – 2014 Statistics Canada
  • “54% of Canadian adults are overweight or obese.” – 2014 Statistics Canada
  • “Canadian children get an average of 7.5 hours of screen-time per day.” – 2011 Statistics Canada

The fun didn’t stop there! Our Manderley Less Water Sod was rolled up at the end of the day and donated to Westport’s Lockwood Memorial Park, to Green Up! their park for Canada Day and benefit from years to come.

At Manderley, we know that lawns provide a safe space to play to promote healthy levels of activity, and we are pleased to support this day of unplugged play.

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