St. Margaret of Scotland Families: 

I am sure all of you have noticed how the playground has a beautiful new surface.  What you may not know is that this new surface was funded through a grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.  We received this grant because it was found that our playground was a necessary part of our neighborhood as one of the only open playgrounds in Shaw.  It is clearly an important meeting place for the children and parents in our community.   

What is also important about our new surface is that it is made completely out of recycled materials.  In this case, 24,535 pounds of used Missouri tires were used in the completion of this surface. Just as a reference, the average car tire weighs 14 pounds, therefore we have about 1,800 used tires recycled for out playground surface. This fits in great with our mission of Catholic Social Teachings which calls us to be stewards of the environment.  I encourage you to talk about this program with your children and the importance of using recyclable materials. 

Finally, the new playground surface is completely ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant – something our former playground surface was not. This expands the benefits to ALL members of our community.  

I want to thank the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for allowing us to continue to serve our community, both school and neighborhood, by providing this grant of $40,000.  I want to thank SMOS parent, Justin Rowles, who was the project manager and helped spearhead the grant. Thanks too to our business manager, Deborah Elliott, who helped with all of our paperwork for the application.  Chris Stephens and former principal Chris Burke also provided help with the coordination of the instillation and the color scheme and design.  Finally, I want to thank our grounds crew for preparing the site and protecting the surface as it dried.  This was truly a community effort.  

God Bless,

Patrick Holley