Local ministry relocates playground equipment to developing countries

CONROE, Texas -- Maximizing Children's Ministries International (MCMINTL) is on a mission to maximize children’s opportunity to play. The Project Playground endeavor was formed five years ago by county residents Matt and Kelly Clayton shortly after they married while serving as children's pastors in Botswana, Africa. They recognized the importance of playing, and how it enriches children’s lives by providing social interaction with their peers, physical development, and providing a mental escape from the deplorable living conditions.

In 2008, MCMINTL built a community playground in El Alto, Bolivia consisting of a small slide, a swing, and a few merry-go-rounds. The children’s reaction propelled the organization to build another playground in Maun, Botswana two years later. In 2012, the organization embarked on their most monumental undertaking to date...the acquisition, dismantling, and transporting of Kasmiersky Park’s entire playground equipment including monkey bars, climbing wall, and a tunnel slide, to a remote village in the middle of the Bolivian jungle.

Working with the Conroe Parks and Recreation Department, Maximizing Children's Ministries International, a nonprofit affiliated with The Ark Church, negotiated a deal with the city of Conroe, and purchased the equipment targeted for destruction, for $10. The Ministry disassembled the playground equipment, repaired and refurbished it, then prepared it for shipment.

“Working with the Customs Department was a complicated process,” said Kelly Clayton, the organization’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. “Every piece of playground equipment, every nut and bolt, had to be listed on the Customs’ documentation.”

If notating all the parts was difficult, the logistics was even more complicated. The playground structure was shipped in two 20-foot containers through the Panama Canal, which should have taken only a month and a half, but was stalled for approximately six weeks due to a shipping strike. Once the equipment disembarked, it was transported over “Death Road,” up a single, winding mountain road, then down the other side of the mountain into the thick jungle valley to San Buenaventura, Bolivia. The arduous trek took three months to travel the several thousand miles from Montgomery County, Texas. The cost of shipping and installing the project totaled almost $50,000.

“After erecting the playground, we had to show the kids how to play on it,” said Clayton. “The children had never seen a tunnel slide, so we had to show them how to use it. Don Schock, the project's head of construction, disappeared down the tunnel slide, and when he came out at the bottom, the kids went crazy.”

The inaugural playground dedication service drew 150 adults and approximately 350 children. A church has since been started on the site.

“Our goal is not to simply grow the children’s ministry, but grow the church as well, working through the child to reach the whole family. We partner with the parents so that we work together for the spiritual growth of the child,” said Clayton.

Although playground equipment in municipal parks is solid, the liability coverage on playground equipment in the United States is only ten years, at which point it’s typically dismantled and recycled. MCMINTL’s team of volunteers are capable and willing to dedicate the time and resources needed to refurbish and relocate the equipment to developing countries.

According to the organization’s founder, Matt Clayton, you can't purchase a semi-thousand-dollar set of playground equipment in developing countries; it’s just not available. Thus the reason MCMINTL is reaching out to communities who have equipment exceeding the 10-year age limit. The organization is adept at the tear-down, parts cataloging, and re-erecting of the equipment. It took a team of 10 just three days to reassemble Kasmiersky Park in Bolivia last September.

In March of 2013, the state of Texas' Recreation and Parks Society recognized Maximizing Children's Ministries and The Ark Church with the Outstanding Service Club Award for 2012 in recognition of Project Playground.

Maximizing Children’s Ministries International is recognized by the IRS as a non-profit organization based out of the United States, currently working in South America and Africa. The organization is now raising funds for Project Playground 2014 to Botswana and Namibia. To help enrich the lives of children in these developing countries, contribute to the project.

Matt serves as associate children's pastor at The Ark Church in Conroe, Texas, and continues producing children's curriculum and directing Maximizing Children's Ministries International. Kelly serves in children's ministry at The Ark Church, continuing to develop and translate curriculum, and coordinating shipments of resources to churches throughout the world. As involved as they are with the Ark Church, they’re equally as dedicated to this project they initiated. For more information about this amazing program visit the MCMINTL website Project Playground.