As part of our Facility Improvement Program that works with welfare facilities like children’s homes and shelters for single mothers, Habitat Japan is implementing a project to build a playground at Kodomo no Sono, a children’s home in Chigasaki, Kanagawa.
On October 10th, 2025, a total of 27 volunteers from Bloomberg, Cisco Systems G.K., Gensler, and J.P. Morgan participated in a joint volunteer activity, helping construct an outdoor stage area and clean the interior of the facility.
Despite cold and rainy conditions, volunteers came together as a team and tackled their work. Volunteers tasked with stage building worked hard, carrying, mortaring, and laying 90-centimeter-long wood-patterned stone tiles one by one. Volunteers kept spirits high despite difficult conditions, cheering one another on to delicately lay over half of the stage’s tiles.
Inside the facility, volunteers armed with wash cloths and a dream cleaned the floors and windows of the cafeteria, event hall, and even some of the facility’s outer walls, bringing a shine to areas which are often hard for facility staff to attend to with their busy schedules. After lunch time, one child excitedly commented on how the windows were noticeability cleaner, highlighting how meaningful the task is to residents.
After the activity, facility director Wada-san thanked the group, sharing “We are grateful for the hard work of so many volunteers despite the rain. Through today’s activity, I hope that participants were able to deepen their understanding of children’s homes”. A volunteer also highlighted the value of this opportunity to volunteer alongside other companies and learn their values, commenting“It was a great opportunity to get to know members from other companies and learn about what kind of volunteering everyone does. I hope I have the opportunity to volunteer with everyone again someday.”Going forward we hope to create more opportunies for corporate volunteers to form teams beyond the confines of one company.
Habitat Japan’s playground project at the Kodomo no Sono children’s home is currently in its second phase which will ultimately lay an outdoor stage and decorate the area with greenery before the end of this year. The third phase, installing play equipment and a foot path, is planned to mark the completion of this multi-year project by next summer. Thank you to all our volunteers and supporters who have made this project possible.
