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Schools

Vote For KT Murphy's Playground

K.T. Murphy's upper playground has seen better days, and one parent is trying to change this fact by winning a grant from Clorox Power a Bright Future.

From broken asphalt to outdated wood chips and rusted equipment — ’s playground could use a little help.

“We have woodchips, the kids start playing and it gets worn down and uneven. One part of the pavement is broken, kids are tripping over it,” Lorraine Masone, a parent of two K.T. Murphy students, said. “They want to run and not worry about falling.”

Masone heard about the Clorox Power a Bright Future grants for school programs through a commercial on NBC and has decided to give it a try. A small school with a large population of economically disadvantaged families, many at K.T. Murphy don’t have home computers. This has made getting the votes they need to win through the school community alone unlikely.

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“We’d love to get the community behind this,” Masone said. “We’re the only school in Stamford in the running and it would be nice to have everyone’s support.”

Voting runs through December 9 and adults and kids ages 13 and older can vote once every day either online or by texting “clorox3119” to 44144.

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In addition to putting in an updated soft landing surface — Masone would love to see fresh equipment to brighten up the space.

“The playground equipment is getting rusted, parts have broken and been covered up with wood,” Masone explained. “I would love for it to look like ’s playground. It has something for every age group and things for special needs kids.”

K.T. Murphy has special plans for one section of the space. An area of playground equipment was removed to make space for a school garden outside of the Kindergarten classrooms, but the lack of proper irrigation has prevented this plan from moving forward. The garden would provide some much sought-after green space for students.

“We’d love to be able to show them how things grow, the experience of the kids coming out to the garden and getting their hands on the soil,” Masone said.

The grant would also provide funding to put in an irrigation system to get the project off the ground.  K.T. Murphy families have already volunteered to build planter boxes for the garden.

Masone’s children — in the third and the first grades — have their own input.

“My daughter told me to make sure the monkey bars stay!” Masone laughed.  “I want them to just enjoy themselves — there’s so much pressure on these kids all day long. They’re kids for so little time, it’s nice to let them go out and just have fun.”

Clorox will award one $50,000 grant to the school with the highest number of votes,  three $25,000 grants to the winners in each category: Play, Create, and Explore, and one $25,000 grant for Judge's Choice. Go to Clorox Power a Bright Future website to vote daily between now and December 9 and spread the word.

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