BGE Volunteers Build Playground 

Rachel Malkusak (Project Manager, Kaboom!): “Thank you everyone for coming out today and making a dream playground a reality here at Dutterer Park. And we couldn't have done it without an amazing partnership—we’re bringing all sorts of folks together from the community. We started this about seven weeks ago with a Design Day, so we met with the kids down at the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster down the street here.”

[Crowd applauds]]

Nijae Tate (2nd Grade): “So like here's the monkey bars built into a slide.”

Levi Kohlhepp (5th Grade): “Hopscotch for the girls.”

Dillon Hareth (6th Grade): “Here I have a rock climbing wall.”

Isaac Jones (7th Grade): “A slide, monkey bars and a basketball court.” 

Levi Kohlhepp: “I'm really excited to see the new playground, yeah.”

Dillon Hareth: “Well, I'm excited about everyone's ideas because it's a combination of everyone's ideas. So it will be pretty awesome.”

Rachel Malkusak: “We are in the midst of our playground build. It s where all of our partners come together with BGE, Boys and Girls Club of Westminster, City of Westminster and Habitat for Humanity of Carroll County. As the end of the day, the 2,690th Kaboom! build will be complete.”

Erin Bishop (Marketing Director, Boys and Girls Club of Westminster): “The Boys and Girls Club is growing so quickly. We started in a little community center right up the street and now we have about 95 kids a day and we don't have any outdoor space to play in. So this new playground means so much because the old playground was aging; it was like 20 years old.”

Brian Lyburn (Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Carroll County): “This is a continuation of a community project that we started just a block away where we finished five homes in February and moved five new families into their homes. Encouraging kids to get out and play and be active in a space like we're building here today is just awesome.”

Ashish Mehta (Manager of Load Analytics & Settlement, BGE): “So my background is planning and so we build these huge operation pipeline projects that take two to three years to complete. This is great to come out and one day put it all together, get it all in place. It's amazing the amount of work that we can do in one day and get it all done.”

Justin Mulcahy (Sr. Communication Specialist, BGE): “It was a lot of jobs going on out here and that's really why everything gets done so quickly. Everybody pitches in—literally, I was pitching. I was pitching mulch this morning. You can see people are mixing concrete, they're pouring concrete in the footers, they're putting together sections of the playground.”

Brian Lyburn: “We're building some additional park amenities like benches.”

Erin Bishop: “Probably one of the more exciting things is that they are doing sidewalk games all the way up the walkway.”

Rachel Malkusak: “We have over 200 volunteers that showed up today. These people are moving fast, they are hard workers. We’ve got to find more stuff for them to do!”

Alex Núñez (VP, Governmental & External Affairs, BGE): “Today is another day in the life of BGE. We are committed every day to bringing the maximum value through our business and through our volunteer efforts to our community, to our customers.”

Gabriel Núñez (Sr. eChannel Program Manager, BGE)”.”I actually live not too far from here and I am looking forward to the opportunity to bring my own daughter here and show her what I was able to do along with all my friends and colleagues here today. To put together and to build in only six hours, believe it or not. These playgrounds become a lasting representation of what BGE’s commitment to community really means.”

Rachel Malkusak: “Play. It's something that's fantastic. It challenges kids physically, socially and mentally. So it’s a heart muscle builder, part brain expander, part friend maker, all wrapped up into one. And we made that possible here today. So thank you very much.”

Valencia McClure (Director of Communications, BGE): “Throughout the year we see BGE employees volunteer over 25,000 hours. We have a lot of projects and this is why we do what we do. And we had like 120 BGE strong so I just want to say a special thank you for those that are here today.”

[Crowd applauds]

Kevin Utz (Mayor, Westminster, Maryland): “I do want to extend my sincere thanks for the time you spent today, away from work, to make the city shine again, here in this part.”

Crowd: “Kaboom!”