A community effort to help improve the outdoor field spaces in Rye, NY.
About "Let The Kids Play"
Our Mission
"Let The Kids Play" believes that our town needs to do more to provide our children with increased opportunities to be outside playing with friends.
The science is clear that organized sports have large positive benefits to children's physical, social, emotional, and mental health. We are committed to bringing the children in Rye more year round, durable fields to afford them more available hours for outdoor play.
Click the links to see our supporting data and Frequently Asked Questions pages. You can also see the renderings of the Nursery Field Improvement Project provided by City of Rye consultants.
Our Organization
"Let The Kids Play" is a non-profit corporation started by private citizens to raise money, awareness, and support for the Rye Recreation Department in their efforts to bring more usable outdoor play spaces to Rye, including the addition of turf fields.
Click here to see the members of our Board of Directors.
Our Commitment
Other towns in this area have already made the choice to meet their kids needs and provide multiple fields that can be used year-round. We are the only town in the immediate area attempting to support the childhood of thousands of young athletes with only one turf field (at Rye High School).
On 6/14/23 at a City Council meeting (and submitted in writing on 6/16/23), Let The Kids Play offered to provide a gift to the City of Rye not to exceed $3M:
“If the city produces a final plan satisfactory for a high school-sized artificial turf, multisport field, with infill other than crumb rubber, high quality components, attendant accessories and environmental protections, Let The Kids Play will fund: the construction costs, including the initial study, the design, the approval expenses, on a timely basis, in an amount equal to the final cost and not to exceed $3 million.”
Our Ask
If you are a family or individual who believes in the importance of outdoor play in the Rye community, we ask for your support in raising funds to enable Rye Recreation to improve the quality and year round usability of the field space in our city.
Pledges
Over $2.2M has already been pledged to "Let The Kids Play" by local families to help show city officials that this project can be privately funded. If you would like to make a pledge, click here. This is just a pledge, not an actual donation. Donations will be collected once a field improvement plan has been approved by the City of Rye. Your pledge will be kept confidential unless you choose to make it public.