{"id":47405,"date":"2025-08-22T01:39:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T08:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=47405"},"modified":"2025-08-21T16:58:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:58:33","slug":"making-space-for-kids-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/08\/22\/making-space-for-kids-to-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Making space for kids to play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simon Fraser Elementary School\u2019s playground, which opened in 2024, was a beneficiary of financial support from the Dayhu Family Foundation. (photo from Dayhu Family Foundation)<\/em><\/p>\n

For more than 30 years, the Dayhu Family Foundation, formerly known as the Ben and Esther Dayson Charitable Foundation, has helped create playgrounds both locally and in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother and father always liked the idea of children playing,\u201d said Shirley Barnett, chair of the Dayhu Family Foundation, about her late parents, Esther and Ben Dayson.<\/p>\n

In Vancouver, finding the monetary support for playgrounds can be orchestrated by parent advisory councils (PACs) within the public schools. The PACs initiate the fundraising drives, sometimes years in advance, through a multitude of means, from bake sales and lemonade stands to other forms of financial outreach.<\/p>\n

According to Barnett, the PAC at Simon Fraser Elementary School was an enterprising group that canvassed the neighbourhood in search of support for their playground project. Dayhu Group of Companies, a real estate investment, development and property management company with a large development near the school, was approached and quickly recognized that this was a worthy endeavour. Before the playground, put together by Habitat Systems, opened in 2024, Simon Fraser had to make do with an area ill-suited for children\u2019s recreational activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son Jonathan said to me, \u2018Didn\u2019t we build two playgrounds in Israel and one at the JCC?\u00a0 <\/span>Why don\u2019t we just stick with playgrounds and fund a couple because children need to play?\u2019\u00a0 <\/span>It is such a good fit for us,\u201d Barnett explained.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Shirley Barnett at Dayhu Family Foundation\u2019s first venture into playgrounds \u2013 the Dayson Playground in Modi\u2019in, Israel, which was built in 1993. (photo from Dayhu Family Foundation)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The foundation has a long history of providing financial support to cultural, educational and social causes both within and outside the Jewish community of Greater Vancouver. Its first venture into playgrounds started with the Dayson Playground, a Jewish National Fund project, which was built in Modi\u2019in (outside of Jerusalem) in 1993.<\/p>\n

The second playground was also in Israel. Launched in 2018, the Ben and Esther Dayson Outdoor Learning Centre at the Ilanot School in Jerusalem was designed for children with special needs, as the Ilanot School serves children with severe motor and cognitive impairment, including many with cerebral palsy. Its pupils come from many cultural backgrounds, including Jewish, Muslim and Christian.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have also been very involved with the JCC for many years, and so we helped the early childhood education playground, on my son\u2019s initiative, in 2012, at the current JCC,\u201d Barnett said of the Dayhu initiative at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.<\/p>\n

A new project at Britannia Community Elementary School is a good fit for the foundation as well, said Barnett, who described the reactions from both Simon Fraser and Britannia as \u201cphenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are schools that really needed help. The parent committees at Simon Fraser and Britannia have worked so hard to bring about these playgrounds. They are in need and the parents can\u2019t raise much money,\u201d Barnett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA playground can make a huge difference in getting kids outdoors and getting them active, rather than them just running around a gravel field. I think it is obvious that kids need to play. We trust their design, we trust their need and their rationale.\u201d<\/p>\n

With both elementary school playground projects, Dayhu operated swiftly after being approached, understanding that there is a process involved before work can commence. Dayhu is not involved in the creativity or development of these projects; rather, it looks at a site and how much money has been raised. When it sees that more funds cannot be raised, it steps in as the lead donor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cassandra Torok, a parent at Britannia, said that, after four years of advocating and fundraising for an expansion and upgrade to the school\u2019s playground, the East Vancouver community felt stuck, unable to obtain the money needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting Jonathan and Shirley was this amazing tipping point for our school\u2019s playground project,\u201d Torok said. \u201cHer family\u2019s generosity and openness gave our community the support and agency needed to reach the fundraising goals that felt impossible before. Providing the necessary funds to meet students\u2019 needs was a surprising gift that we are so grateful for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout her, her family\u2019s and Dayhu\u2019s philanthropic commitment, we know that we would not be getting the playground needed at our school, the playground our children deserve to grow, develop and improve their well-being as a whole,\u201d Torok added.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
A rendering of the proposed playground enhancements at Britannia Community Elementary School, which will be built with financial assistance from the Dayhu Family Foundation. (image from Dayhu Family Foundation)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Britannia school expects to have shovels in the ground within the next few months. When it opens, the playground will also be accessible to the larger community after school hours, on weekends and during the summer months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dayhu\u2019s efforts have led others to back the creation of playgrounds. At least one other family foundation saw what Dayhu had supported at the JCC and was motivated to help fund similar projects, said Barnett.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a huge accomplishment to be an inspiration for someone else,\u201d Barnett said. \u201cWe are not trying to promote our philanthropy. I would love it if someone read this article, and said, \u2018You know, we have a few dollars and there is a neighbourhood school with a gravel field, maybe we could do something there.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Margolis <\/b>has written for the <\/i>Globe and Mail, the <\/i>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simon Fraser Elementary School\u2019s playground, which opened in 2024, was a beneficiary of financial support from the Dayhu Family Foundation. (photo from Dayhu Family Foundation) For more than 30 years, the Dayhu Family Foundation, formerly known as the Ben and Esther Dayson Charitable Foundation, has helped create playgrounds both locally and in Israel. \u201cMy mother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5864,24250,2763,24249,6467,1755],"class_list":["post-47405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-children","tag-dayhu-family-foundation","tag-philanthropy","tag-playgrounds","tag-schools","tag-shirley-barnett"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}