PCL Construction recently teamed with Make-A-Wish Colorado to help create an “outdoor” play area for a wish recipient.
Due to a rare nervous system disorder, five-year-old Elijah is rarely able to go outside. His wish was to have an indoor “outdoor” space, where he could play and exercise in the family’s home in Kersey. Denver architecture and planning firm Hord Coplan Macht donated their services to develop a design plan for the room. Then, a team of PCL employees volunteered their time for four weekends to complete all the renovations and installations.
The room includes a foam play pit area, a climbing wall, monkey bars, and a slide. The team planted a real tree and added a picket fence and outdoor furniture. SYNLawn donated and installed artificial turf grass and a path to mimic outdoor textures. And the team painted the room to include a blue sky, mountains, clouds and a sun.
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Deron Brown, PCL’s chief operating officer, said creating Elijah’s outdoor room was an amazing experience for the entire team. “Regular physical activity is so important for children’s development and wellbeing,” Brown said in a statement. “To be able to create a space for Elijah to run around and play and feel like he is outdoors brought us as much joy as it brought to him.”
Scott Dishong, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Colorado, said the nonprofit is fortunate to have strong relationships within the building community. “We encourage wish kids to dream big when choosing their wish, and with the help of companies like PCL, we are able to make their wishes come true,” Dishong said in a statement. He said he hopes other companies will continue to get involved as currently 400 children across Colorado are waiting for their wish and many of them involve backyard or room makeovers.
This was my son and we are so blessed to have PCL and all the people who helped with this project. He loves it and we get to see our son play. I would have never thought that would be something we got to say. Tha k you all so much.