Playgrounds Build Hope for the Struggling

A group of volunteers stood in the sunlit dusty playground on a South Dakota Indian Reservation, smiling, some with tears.

They had just put in three days of hard work digging holes and assembling parts for a new state-of-the-art playground sponsored by the non-profit group, Kids Around the World, and were watching children playing on the swings.

“That’s the payoff,” explained Ron Benton, “I never get tired of seeing the kids swarm these playgrounds, and feeling a sense of joy that can be pretty rare for folks who live in this kind of poverty.”

The South Dakota playground, set near a cluster of trailer homes and old cars on the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, is the third Ron Benton, a business owner from Wichita, Kan., has helped build.

A Christian organization, Kids Around the World, coordinated the project with donations and volunteers. It was begun in 1994 by a group of businessmen who wanted to provide safe play equipment for children that found themselves in situations where it was difficult to just be a “kid.”

“A lot of people might think that a playground doesn’t make much of a difference for people who have incredible needs,” said Flaming. “But it makes a huge difference. I’ve seen it in the smiles of the children and in their parents’ tears. To be a part of that, it’s just something you never forget.”

“We have seen so many children over the years who have faced such incredible struggles. They’ve really missed out on the joy of just being a kid,” explained Kids Around the World President Jim Rosene. “We know that when we go to countries like Vietnam or Bosnia, or to an Indian reservation in South Dakota, we’re not just building playgrounds, we’re building hope.”