CKRecreation Play Rangers program has been named a recipient of the 2015 Parks and Recreation Ontario Award of Excellence for Innovation.
This award will be presented on March 25th, at the 20th Anniversary PRO Educational Forum in Collingwood, ON.
This provincial award recognizes the outstanding achievement that enhances quality of life for Ontario citizens and showcases the very best of recreation and parks. It also draws attention to the importance and benefits of recreation for healthy people, vibrant communities and sustainable environments.
CKRecreation was selected in the Innovation category alongside the cities of Toronto, Mississauga and Vaughn. The Play Rangers mobile recreation unit provides barrier-free access to recreation throughout the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.
It encourages children to play outside and make more use of parks and open spaces by offering unique opportunities for unstructured free play.
Offered for children of all ages, CKRec Play Rangers turns a park or community space into a fun and engaging space that promotes physical activity, spending time as a family, and the development of essential physical literacy skills.
In addition to the standard park program, Play Rangers has also expanded and partnered with other community organizations and service providers to offer programming such as “Friday Night Movies in the Park” and “Play Your Way Pool Days” demonstrating the program’s ability to respond to ever changing community needs.
In its first year of operation, the CKRec Play Rangers program serviced approximately 8,500 community members, making this innovative program a major contributor to our objective to get more people, more active, more often. And the best part is that it’s absolutely free, which eliminates one of the major barriers to access.
For more information, visit www.chatham-kent.ca/recreation or call 519.360.1998.
