Preds Foundation, KABOOM! Partner for Tenth Annual Playground Build

The Nashville Predators Foundation empowered by SmileDirectClub made it a decade of playground builds this past week when over 100 volunteers journeyed to Nashville Classical Charter School to construct a playspace for the school's students.
With the help of KABOOM!, a nonprofit organization that partners with communities to construct playgrounds, Preds employees and volunteers were able to assemble a navy and Gold playspace in The Foundation's tenth annual build. The three-day event began on Nov. 3 and concluded with a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of dozens of the school's students and families on Nov. 5.

"It's really awesome to see it kind of go from nothing on the ground to a full playground in just a short period of time," Predators Community Relations Coordinator Abby Helper said. "This is our 10th playground built in the last 10 years so it's a staff favorite activity, and it's one of our favorite things to do throughout the year."
In August, students from the K-8 Nashville Classical Charter School put their creativity to the test by drawing their dream playgrounds with project organizers from KABOOM!, and on Friday, their dreams became reality in the form of a Preds-inspired space featuring two slides, a rockwall, a chair-swing and more.

"We've been waiting a long time for this playground," Senior Director of Growth and Strategy at Nashville Classical Matt Dempsey said. "We got approved right before the pandemic, so we've waited a couple of years, but it speaks a lot to this community to know that we can build this playground and we can also build community together. We've got folks from all different sorts of organizations who are out here to help today, and it just speaks to the giving spirit of Nashville."
Among those helpful entities financially supporting the build were sponsors ESPN 102.5 The Game, 102.9 The Buzz, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Jackson, NES and Piedmont Natural Gas. And those volunteering included everyone from Predators building operations staffers to finance team members to Assistant General Manager and Director of Hockey Operations Brian Poile - who was shoveling mulch onto the bed of the playground on Friday.
"My favorite part about this [Foundation event] is just that it's our entire staff," Poile said. "I work in hockey operations, we've got building operations here, we've got folks over at the Ford Ice Centers, we have people in finance, we have people in all departments, so we get to see each other in a little bit different light and help out. Maybe we have different roles inside the organization, but we're all on concrete duty today or mulch duty today, so it's pretty fun."
Traditionally, the build has been just a single day. But this year, the three-day format offered numerous Preds employees and others the chance to join in on the construction and provided a unique perspective of the progress made from day one to day three.

"I think it's great to do it over a three-day build," Helper said. "You kind of get to see more of the progress going from day one when we didn't really have much of the equipment on, then yesterday starting to get it up, and now getting it all put together is really cool to see all the progress going along."
Previously, students at Nashville Classical had to walk off campus to find the nearest playground during recess and free time. Now, they will have a brand new playspace they helped design right in their backyard.
"This is a completely student-designed playground. They got to draw drawings a few months ago, and we took that and made this design," Dempsey said. "They actually have to walk about a quarter mile to another playground every single day. So the last few days, they've been pretty excited to see the construction going up and they can't wait to use it."
The Preds Foundation continues to be active this fall, and on Friday, it delivered a priceless addition to Nashville Classical's campus that students will enjoy for many years to come.
"We're a hockey team first, but I think we're so invested in the community, which is fantastic," Poile said. "I think we all have so much pride in the community, and being able to do something for this school and the kids is fantastic. That's one of the best parts about working for the Predators is that we just go hands in on the community."
"I think [the playground build] just shows that Nashville comes together in times of everything," Helper added. "From building a playground to flood recovery to all kinds of different recovery efforts - it's just great to get [our staff] together and get these kids a playground."