Playground Memorializes a Little Giant

Before a crowd of hundreds Saturday, including a few current and former National Football League players, volunteers and officials held a ribbon cutting for the most recent Sandy Ground Project playground in Union Beach.

The playground was named for 6-year-old Jack Pinto, an avid Giants fan who was shot and killed during the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Ocean City firefighters are working to bring a similar project to the playground at 29th Street. (Read more about the Sandy Ground Project in Ocean City.)

With Pinto's parents and older brother in attendance, officials welcomed children to play on the newly constructed, and safe, playground. 

The purpose of the Sandy Ground project is to honor the 26 victims of the Newtown, Conn. shooting as well as to promote recovery in towns severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

The 26 playgrounds in the process of being built — each named for a specific victim — are located in towns in three states, including New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. In New Jersey, Sandy Ground memorial playground locations include Union Beach, Sea Bright, and Ocean City. 

Sandy Ground is the effort of founder Bill Lavin and the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association. The organization has partnered with multiple businesses, volunteer and non-profit organizations to help fund and construct each of the playgrounds.

Pinto's playground became a reality through Sandy Ground's partnership with Reaching All in Need Everyday, or RAINE, which purchased the playground and helped organize volunteers to work on the site in Fireman's Park.

RAINE, which is based in Hazlet and focuses its efforts in northern Monmouth County, was developed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The foundation has grown over the years and continues its promise to provide assistance, food, and clothing to families in crisis.