Johnson Reeves playground update.

This article is by Jack Hummel of the South Jersey Times.

BRIDGETON — At one time, all the kids in Bridgeton lived at the Johnson Reeves playground at the corner of East Avenue and Wood Street.

Sometimes, you went home for lunch.

But you came right back.
It had the tallest sliding board in the state.

But then bullying became fashionable, the neighborhood changed, the clubhouse was graffitied and it was considered too dangerous to keep open.

Then came Jonathan Cummings and a program called ReviveSJ that has been cutting an inspirational swath through Bridgeton.

Revive South Jersey has worked together closely with Mayor Albert Kelly and the City of Bridgeton on various projects in the community: Facilitating a summer program at the Bridgeton Villas in partnership with eight area churches and year-long programs for children there and the Johnson Reeves playground renovation project which began about one and a half years ago.

In addition to these, RSJ works in collaboration with Pathstone Corporation, Family Strengthening Network, Mexican-American Association of South Jersey and the Pascale Sykes Foundation to serve families through Unidos para la Familia, a program designed to partner with families to achieve their goals in all aspects of life.

Area businesses joined ReviveSJ to bring back Johnson Reeves, fixing up the clubhouse.

And now comes a $15,000 grant from Dr. Pepper/Snapple (DPS) and national non-profit KaBOOM!

Read the whole article here.

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