Long Beach, Miss. (April 29, 2006) – Eight long months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their hometown and school, the students of North Bay Elementary School in Bay Saint Louis, Miss., finally have a place to play.

NJFMBA playground project at North Bay Elementary School. New Jersey firefighters, Bill Lavin looks over a thank you card made by Jules Lichenstine. The firefighters are committed to building a handicap accessible playground at the school.

Save the Children, working in partnership with the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association (NJFMA), Mercy Corps and the school, have completed building one of the first fully accessible playgrounds in the state. Some 20 New Jersey firefighters traveled to Mississippi last week to undertake the construction project.

The playground project is the culmination of a long relationship between the New Jersey firefighters and North Bay Elementary. Following the tragic events of 9/11, the children and teachers at the school reached out to support the fire crews who played a major role in the response that day. The children sent notes of encouragement and thanks—as well as a handmade mailbox, which adorns the entrance of a firehouse in Elizabeth, NJ, today.

When Hurricane Katrina struck, the firefighters immediately moved to help children on the Gulf Coast, including the students at North Bay Elementary. They successfully raised more than $300,000 in support of Save the Children's Katrina after-school, child care and structured-activity programs that help children work through their traumatic experience.

“New Jersey’s firefighters have been instrumental in helping children recover from Katrina. This playground will give the North Bay students a sense of normalcy,” said Charles F. MacCormack, President and CEO of Save the Children. “Their school is a cluster of portable trailers located on a muddy field. When they go home—often to other trailers—at the end of the day, it is to streets and communities still full of debris. They have no safe place to play and to just be kids.”

A recent visit by NJFMBA members to see Save the Children’s Mississippi programs inspired the firefighters to give the children a chance to have some fun.

“We were blown away that people were still living in tents and children were going to school in trailers,” said Bill Lavin, NJFMBA president. “But when we asked the children what they really needed, they all said a playground.”

Bay Saint Louis was one of the communities hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina, and the elementary school was completely destroyed. Temporary trailers, set up on the grounds of the facility, serve as classrooms.

The NJFMBA is raising an additional $25,000 for this project, with Save the Children and Mercy Corps matching those funds.

Donate to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Recovery Fund for Children

Contacts:
Kate Conradt: 202-261-4673 or Email: kconradt@dc.savechildren.org
Mike Kiernan: 202-261-4686 or Email: mkiernan@dc.savechildren.org