Sterntaler donates fresh play sand for the children’s playground of the DSD
The Sterntaler Foundation donates another EUR 2,300 for fresh sand on a children’s playground.
Only three years before the club’s hundredth birthday – which is located directly on the Düssel – the heavy rain event in July hit the sports facility of the “Deutscher Sportklub Düsseldorf 1924 eV” hard. In all areas, including tennis courts and hall, the field of the hockey department and the restaurant of the facility, damage was recorded.
Here, too, the sand from the children’s playground at the sports facility served as a sand store for filling sandbags, as was the case with the municipal playgrounds. “We filled sandbags with 50 helpers, shoveled the playground at the facility almost empty and tried to save what can be saved,” says Swen Poloczek, Head of the Hockey Department at DSD.
When the Sterntalerinnen found out about the “cleared playground” from the treasurer of the DSD, Bruno Marx, support was also promised here, as was the case with the 7 playgrounds in the flood-affected districts of Gerresheim, Eller, Grafenberg and Rath.
“As a rule, we Sterntaler women have very short decision-making paths and we had already gained experience with sand when we received the request from the DSD,” says Caroline Merz, chairwoman of the Sterntaler Foundation. “It was immediately clear to us that the children’s playground had to be restored here too,” adds Michaela Rentmeister, also on the board of the Sterntaler Foundation. After a few calls, a competent partner for this project was found in Galabau Fricke & Hollender.
Oliver Fricke explains that it took more than 6 weeks to restore the playground, because sand is currently scarce and 16 t was not even available. For this purpose, the company Galabau Fricke & Hollender has found a company that has the necessary machines for such a company in its fleet.
The “Trekker” with which Oliver Fricke brought the sand to the DSD is a John Deere 8 R 340. The tractor has an impressive total length of 6.64 m, a height of 3.55 m and a width of 2.55 m The rear tires of the tractor have a diameter of 2.20 m. The cab is of course with automatic climate control and surround system, Apple Carplay
as well as a seat with ventilation and massage function, and for cool drinks on hot days, the “Trekker” has a refrigerator. The 16 tons of sand for the playground were transported with a dump truck with a payload of 16 tons. So just the right size for the sand you need.
With the 454 t of sand that have already been “built” on a total of eight municipal playgrounds, the Sterntaler Foundation has now financed a total of 470 t of sand and spent a total of around EUR 31,300 on the repair of Düsseldorf children’s playgrounds.
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