Playground gets $20,000 grant

The new Soda Springs all-access playground, geared toward kids with disabilities, is one step closer to raising all the money needed to start building.

It recently received a $20,000 grant from the company Kaboom!, who partnered with Dr. Pepper and Snapple to award the money. They only give out five grants a year. Soda Springs was one of the lucky five applicants from all around the U.S.

A requirement for the grant was that each applicant had to submit a video. The videos had to show a need for the grant and it had to be creative. So Soda Springs got creative and decided to take a more “futuristic” approach with their theme.

“I was reading on the Kaboom! website and they talk about how with today’s society, kids are indoors more,” said Amanda Conley, a volunteer for Friends of the Soda Springs City Park who made the video. “They’re playing on iPhones and iPads more and so they talk a lot about that on their website and that they want to bring back the spirit of play and so we just kind of ran with that idea.”

The community had to vote for the video on social media. Those with the most votes who made the top five were the winners.

Conley said the money will help the playground take a huge step forward and they’re grateful for everyone who helped make it possible.

“I can’t even tell you the amount of response we’ve gotten just to the video from people all around the community that are just like ‘This is awesome’ or ‘This will be great for the community.’ People that I didn’t even know knew about the park.”

With the grant, the total amount of money raised is now at $140,000 so far. The total needed for the playground, and added splashpad, is $350,000.

The planned date to start building is June 2018.

You watch the full video here. To learn more about the efforts to build a new playground, you can visit Friends of the Soda Springs City Park Facebook page.