The Mary Crane Center in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated a new playground to honor children's singer and long-time Chicago resident Ella Jenkins, for her 25-plus years of involvement with the Mary Crane Center, and her over 40 years of performing, recording, and teaching children about music.
Located at at 2905 North Leavitt on Chicago's North Side, The 2720-sq.ft. playground was built with the assistance of more than 180 Sprint/PCI and community volunteers; the effort was coordinated by KaBoom, a national non-profit agency which helps build playgrounds in underprivileged communities.
The playground boasts spectacular landscaping and equipment, which was partially inspired by local childrens' drawings, solicited at the Mary Crane Center during a special "Design Day".
The dedication ceremony took place June 23, 2001, after an all-day construction "blitz". Ella Jenkins was "taken completely by surprise" by the dedication, believing that she had just been invited to the center to sing.
The re-building of the playlot included the first new equipment at the site in ten years, Crane Center Director Mary Beltram pointed out, adding that she and her staff were looking forward to the following Monday morning even more than usual. "Some of the kids didn't know what to expect" when the old playlot was closed down to prepare for the renovation. "Can you imagine the looks on the kids' faces when they get here?" Beltran said.
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Material for this release was compiled from the following sources:
The Mary Crane News, June, 2001 issue
The Booster, by Patrick Butler, June 27th, 2001 issue
For more information, please contact Ell-Bern Publishing at ella@ellajenkins.com.
U.S. print media inquiries: Matt Hanks, or Mark Satlof, Shore Fire Media, mhanks@shorefire.com, msatlof@shorefire.com or 718.522.7171.
Radio & Promotional inquiries: Mark Gustafson, Shore Fire Media, gustafsonm@si.edu or 202.275.1156
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