EMPOWER PLAYGROUNDS INC cover
EMPOWER PLAYGROUNDS INC

EMPOWER PLAYGROUNDS INC

Salt Lake City, Utah

Our Mission

Empower Playgrounds, Inc. enhances educational opportunities for children in deprived villages in Ghana, West Africa through providing light and learning in innovative ways. Children in rural Ghana support their families by working on farms or chores after school until the sun goes down. Most of these children do not have access to electricity at home or in their villages. Ghana has a rigorous high school entrance exam with only 50% of applicants being accepted. Without light to study in the evenings, less than 10% of children in rural Ghana will enter high school. Empower Playgrounds helps level the playing field for these children through sustainable innovation.

Who We Are

After retiring as Vice-President of Engineering at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, Ben Markham and his wife moved to Ghana, Africa for eighteen months to volunteer. In rural villages, Ben observed the darkness of homes and school classrooms. He also saw the scarcity of play equipment in schoolyards. Touched by their happy smiles, Ben thought, “What if a portion of the playful energy from these children could be harnessed? What if that energy could become light for their classrooms and homes?” With help from faculty and students at Brigham Young University, engineering expertise was applied to create an innovative and viable solution: playground equipment that generates electricity from children's play! The concept was field tested and improved in Ghana. Kweku Anno, of Anno Engineering in Accra, converted the design to utilize local materials. After a rigorous process of school selection involving EPI social scientists and the Ghanaian Ministry of Education, Anno Engineering manufactured the systems and installed them in the selected schools. These schools not only benefit from EPI's electricity-generating play equipment, but also from a custom science education module, which helps to enhance the direct learning of rural student by using the play equipment as a living lab. Thus was born Empower Playgrounds, Inc. Initially, EPI hand modified LED camping lanterns so that they could be recharged by the EPI system. In 2009, Energizer Battery, Inc. became a sponsor for EPI, donating development of a smart LED lantern specifically designed for the EPI service. The smart lantern has a computer chip inside that manages both the charging of the custom battery pack and the operation of the special LED lights. Lighting equivalent to a 25 watt light bulb for over 40 hours is provided by each recharge. Lantern life is expected to be at least 5 years. In late 2010, Empower Playgrounds partnered with playground manufacturer Playworld Systems Inc. to begin manufacturing a crate full of electricity generating playground equipment for shipment around the world.

Connect With Us

Get in Touch

Website

empowerplaygrounds.org

Email

info@empowerplaygrounds.org

Phone

801-374-3252

Tax-Exempt ID (EIN)

20-8836525

Location

1905 W 4700 S #432 , Salt Lake City, Utah, 84129

Get Directions

Photo Gallery

View all 4

Videos

View all 6

How We Impact the World

Select a cause to explore our reach

Our Work in

Support EMPOWER PLAYGROUNDS INC

Make a tax-deductible donation to support this organization's mission.

Donate Now

Secure donation processing

100% goes to EMPOWER PLAYGROUNDS INC — PWI takes $0 in platform fees