Children's Park in Chestnut Hill

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Children's Park in Chestnut Hill was built on the grounds of the John Story Jenks public school by hundreds of volunteers and school students. The park consists of a playground along Germantown Avenue and a garden along the front of the school.

As a volunteer project done outside of LLRA, Joyce Lenhardt served as the general coordinator, recruiting and leading the members of the steering committee, who in turn led the sub-committees. Each sub-committee was responsible for a portion of the work including fundraising, materials purchasing, and organizing volunteer efforts, just to name a few. Ms. Lenhardt provided the interface between the playground architects, the school, and the community. She also led a group of volunteer architects in the community through the site planning, column court, and design of the garden.

Following the project's completion in June 1997, the playground and garden were gifted to the school district. The playground received top recognition in its category in the "Best of Philly 1997" issue of Philadelphia Magazine. Following its completion, Joyce Lenhardt initiated the formation of the non-profit organization, The Friends of the Children's Park in Chestnut Hill, which continues to this day to fundraise and to provide volunteer labor for maintenance, repairs, and improvements to the playground in support of the School District of Philadelphia.