Darrell Hammond built 2,000 playgrounds

Darell Hammond’s work is all play. As founder and CEO of the non-profit KaBOOM!, he is leading a movement to assure that kids have a great place to play within walking distance of their home.

In the past 15 years, Hammond, 40, has inspired more than 1 million volunteers and has recruited hundreds of business leaders and corporations to build 2,000 playgrounds and improve thousands more. He chronicles the journey in his book KaBOOM! How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play.

His mission began in 1995 when he read a news story about the death of two children who suffocated while playing in a car during a heat wave. “This was the catalytic moment,” he says. “I wondered why there wasn’t a place for them to play.”

Research shows that play helps kids physically, builds character and fosters creativity. “As a nation,” he says, “we have to start taking play seriously.”

Hammond and his seven siblings grew up in a group home near Chicago. It had a big campus, with plenty of space to play — a simple joy that Hammond wants every child to experience no matter his circumstances.