Greenville couple Robert and Jennifer Donovan have donated $250,000 toward a playground in Unity Park offering a safe place for children to exercise, explore and interact with nature and each other, the couple announced today.
The 13,200-square-foot toddler playground will include an all-in-one play structure, a custom log bridge, swings, teeter-totters, auditory/sensory equipment, and a giant green salamander play sculpture.
“Greenville is an extraordinary community and an ideal place to raise a family,” said Jennifer Donovan. “This will be a park for all children – whether they live in the surrounding neighborhoods or beyond.”
Jennifer serves as chief marketing officer for DOM360, a full-service marketing agency in Greenville. Her husband, Robert, is the CEO. The couple recently moved their family to Greenville from California.
“Jennifer and I have a passion for children, and we wanted to make a meaningful contribution to the community we now call home,” said Robert Donovan, who began DOM360 in 2007. “Unity Park is about more than a park. It’s about inclusion and bringing people together at a time when so much divides us. It’s about our next generation of hope.”
The Donovan Playground, one of four that make up a 57,100-square-foot play area near the center of the park, will provide a safe place for the youngest children to play and explore. The others are the SYNNEX Playground, the Greenville Water Splash Pad and the play area at the Ann Watson Trotter Memorial Garden. Unity Park is scheduled to open in spring 2022.
The playgrounds have already begun to take shape as contractors prepare for the arrival of playground equipment. The playgrounds will not be accessible for use until the park opens.
The Donovans join the Spinks Family Foundation, Michelin Corporate Foundation, Duke Energy Foundation, Greenville Water, Auro Hotels, Craig and Vicki Brown, SYNNEX Corporation, Fluor Corporation, Verizon, the Community Foundation of Greenville and Greenville Women Giving in publicly announcing their partnerships in Unity Park. More than $11 million in private money has been raised for construction of the first phase of the park.