BY DEBBIE PAGE
Make An Impact Foundation hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday to showcase the new StoryWalk enhancement at Stumpy Creek Park. The StoryWalk is located along the walking trail around the park’s soccer fields.
StoryWalks offer numerous benefits to the community, including encouraging the enjoyment of reading by integrating it into fun, active outdoor activities accessible to children and families. New stories will be added every three months.
Make An Impact Foundation donated the Brody Thompson Memorial Playground at the park in 2022 in remembrance of a 2-year-old drowning victim. The StoryWalk is an extension of that project.
Deborah McKee, the nonprofit’s director of operations, thanked Iredell County Parks & Recreation staff members, who helped with the installation of the 16 posts and story board frames, for their assistance. As the story pages were added on Wednesday morning, a mother and her children were already excited to see this new opportunity, she added.
The last story board is an activity page with a QR code that takes users to a webpage to connect them to the family activities and information offered by the project partners, such as nature bingo.
McKee noted that Make an Impact Foundation became involved with promoting physical activities for children after learning that children averaged more than eight hours per day of screen time and less than 30 minutes of outdoor activity, according to research conducted in the pre-Covid era.
“We made it our mission to build playgrounds like this so that kids get out, to host free sports camps for kids that would not normally go to camp in the summer. We added this piece to this playground in hopes that everybody in the county enjoys it,” she said.
Make An Impact Foundation created the StoryWalk in cooperation with the Iredell County Partnership Young Children, Davidson Wealth Management, Iredell County Parks & Recreation, Iredell County Library, Quest Mergers & Acquisitions, and Brody Thompson Playground Supporters.
The StoryWalk Project was originally created by Anne Ferguson and developed in collaboration with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier, Vt.
Make An Impact Foundation Missions
The nonprofit funds projects that impact the lives of children who are underprivileged, marginalized, underserved, economically disadvantaged, neglected, abused, distressed or simply in need.
The vision of Make An Impact Foundation, which was founded in 2010 in Davidson, is to meet the needs of children by identifying worthwhile projects, empowering project champions, and finding donor partners to help meet each need.
The group develops projects in communities all over the country if they meet one of the organization’s four “pillars,” including promoting kids’ play, promoting work skills and training for youths, helping kids learn, and connecting corporate partners to nonprofits’ projects that align with their employees’ passions and benefit the community.
A corporate social responsibility program can increase employee engagement, reduce turnover, improve employee retention, improves commitment to their organizations, and encourage more effort on the job. Adult volunteers also report that they feel physically healthier and have a lower level of stress.
“People want to come to work when they feel valued. We want people to feel better by doing good in the community,” said McKee.
The group also sponsors STEM camps and other projects that get kids active. The organization has also launched a “Kids Work” initiative for teens aged 16 to 18 to connect non-college bound high school students to opportunities that develop job skills in their interest areas.
“We really want to help those kids find their path. This year we had 122 kids apply from northern Mecklenburg and Iredell counties and interviewed 65. We have placed 25 to 30 right now, and we are still looking for job placements for some of these kids for the summer, from a couple days to a full summer program.”
McKee is looking for opportunities to connect kids to careers in HVAC, electrical, IT, sales and marketing, education, government, plumbing, mechanics, manufacturing, and construction.
“We hope to grow our program to get middle school students to tour facilities offering these careers or to job shadow to understand what it’s about before even starting an internship,” she said. “We want to help them find or fuel their passions.”
The nonprofit has built 30 playgrounds across the country, including Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, and North Carolina.