Making our Schools Beautiful

  1. Updates

With enthusiasm and support from volunteers and community members, Playworks  hosted  two school beautification projects with our partner schools, Jason Lee School and Cesar Chavez School.

Playworks and Waggener Edstrom Worldwide employees invited the community to get on their hand dirty andcleanup the playground-and-grounds at Cesar Chavez School. The event brought more than 20 volunteers together to plant flowers, rake debris off playgrounds, remove weeds off the blacktop, and cleanup up trash. After all the hard work, volunteers enjoyed a BBQ hosted by the school after the event. Job well done!

Hundreds of community volunteers alongside the Portland Timbers, the Portland Thorns, or the mascot Timber Joey got involved in the 2013 Stand Together Week. This year Playworks hosted volunteers at Jason Lee School to make the playground sparkle. With donations of paint and supplies from Miller Paint Co., Powell Paint Center, Rodda Paint Co., and Beaumont Hardware, we were able to add a fresh and colorful coat of paint to the Lee playground.  Joined by the Portland Timbers ambassador and former player, Bruce Fagan, and Portland Thorns player, Elizabeth Guess, volunteers gave a much needed facelift to the playground. Addition of colorful lines, new bark dust for the jungle gym, and weeding, all helped the school look beautiful and ready for a new school year. Stand Together Week is a call to action to get involved in the community. The week consists of multiple volunteer projects with various nonprofit organizations throughout the city, and engages supporters, hundreds of volunteers, Timbers and Thorns players and staff, and numerous community partners.  Each project will have a meaningful impact on the community with an overall focus on benefitting youth and the environment.

More Updates


January 10, 2023

Understanding the Complex Simplicities of Play ›

Play is a behavior that is natural and has existed for thousands of years and across species. It combines a set of made-up rules or norms and a willingness to explore. Researchers, scientists, and doctors have studied the effects of play on kids–and adults–and understand that this natural behavior has tremendous benefits. As the American…

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February 4, 2022

Believe in Me Foundation Visits with Playworks ›

Julie Wukelic, from the Believe in Me Foundation for Kids, visited with our ED Asia Wisecarver and SC Paige Evans last week. Playworks PacNW was recently rewarded with a $5,000 grant from the foundation. This grant will allow us to continue our work with schools in the Spokane area. We look forward to working with…

August 24, 2021

Playworks Founder Jill Vialet Publishes ‘Why Play Works’ ›

Play brings out the best in every kid. Over the course of 25 years since Jill Vialet founded Playworks, she and her colleagues, as well as researchers and play experts, have demonstrated precisely how and why play works to help kids learn and grow in the most positive and healthy ways. Jill gathered stories from people…