Rays, Partners Shine a Bright Spot Into Sulphur Springs

The Tampa Bay Rays partnered Saturday with the Tampa YMCA, the city of Tampa and KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit dedicated to getting kids outdoors to play, to build a new playground at Layla's House in Sulphur Springs.

Layla's House is an early learning center dedicated to the memory of 16-year old Layla Chami, who died of leukemia in 2008. Her life's mission was to work with children at an early age and play a key role in their development. In her honor, family and friends came together to create Layla's House to carry out the mission and found partners in the YMCA to build a "pipeline of success" in the Sulphur Springs area.

"She wanted to be a doctor and work with mothers and children," said Tricia Eisner, a friend of the Chami family and a Layla's House advisory board member. "We started to look for something for her family to carry on her legacy and do something Layla would have done. We knew we found a perfect fit with YMCA because they are so dedicated to this area."

The city of Tampa donated four lots, three for the center itself to be built on and another adjacent to the structure for a community garden where kids will plant their own vegetables and learn about composting. Additionally, the city donated the first $200,000 to complete the half-million dollar facility at Layla's House.

"Children learn so much through play, so we're glad the city is really participating in the neighborhood of promise initiative," Eisner said. "You bring in an organization like the Rays and the community gets excited. KaBOOM! keeps your funding partner quiet until they approve your project, and it was a big day for us when we found out it was the Rays."

This is the third time the Rays have partnered with KaBOOM! to build a playground in the Tampa Bay area, with Riverview and St. Petersburg receiving the other two in previous years.

"The Rays have been involved with more things with us than I can name, and I can't say enough about the partnership it provides us," YMCA Senior Group Vice President Michael Brown said. "People may look at this and see just a playground, but we look at it as a vehicle to strengthen this community. It's another piece of the puzzle."

The YMCA's involvement continues its dedication to the low income neighborhood of Sulphur Springs, which has been identified as an area in need.

"We've been committed to this area for the last five or six years and have committed to being heavily involved in improving this neighborhood through 2020," Brown said. "We're fortunate to have Layla's House partner with us to establish a pipeline where a kid can enter at a very young age to be involved with us and we can see them through to college."

Katrina Wallace, 32, lives across the street from the new playground. The center, along with the new play facility, brings a bit of hope to a neighborhood that has its share of problems. Since moving to the area two years ago from St. Petersburg, the mother of four currently caring for seven kids has been concerned over the involvement that other parents have in their children's lives.

"I've seen little kids walking the streets late at night around here," Wallace said. "Just recently I saw a 2- and 3-year-old walking early in the morning down the street by themselves and we had to call the cops. We need something like this in the neighborhood where kids can go and play safely, and maybe it'll inspire some of their parents to be more involved in their kids' lives."

Watching the volunteers assemble the playground, Wallace reflected on what she hopes will be another outlet for her own kids and a motivating factor for other parents.

"I'll be bringing my little ones over here everyday," Wallace said. "It's awesome to see the Rays organization out here doing this and showing they're willing to donate their time to the community. This is a low-income area, and I've heard that there is something like 300 kids in this neighborhood below the age of 5, so we need this."

With a playground boasting their logo, the Rays' stamp on the community is both visible and valuable. Residents and volunteers were thrilled to see owner Stuart Sternberg and other Rays executives amongst them working arm in arm to build the playground.

"I think people appreciate the fact that we're not just writing a check and our people are out here working just like everyone else," Rays spokesman Rick Vaughn said. "What better setting is there to interact with and meet some of the people from the community than working side by side with them. These projects have been a real success in our minds."