After winning the Grasshopper House from the Parade of Playhouses, Lake Highlands neighbor Julie Noble donated it to Saint James.
The Parade of Playhouses is Dallas CASA’s biggest fundraiser of the year, when architects across the city lend their skills to build fanciful designs from miniature airstream trailers to houses with rock climbing walls. They go on display every summer at NorthPark Center, before being raffled off to lucky ticket holders.
This year, Lake Highlands resident Julie Noble, a regular neighborhood volunteer, was named as one of the playhouse winners. She scored the “Grasshopper House,” designed after the traditional structures used to keep grasshoppers in Japan. Always one to pay it forward, she passed her prize on to Saint James Episcopal School, who placed the fun structure next to the school garden.
“We want to provide as many ways for children to connect with nature as possible,” says school head Loree Birkenback. “The house fit right into our curriculum.”
Noble attends church at Saint James and also helped the school achieve accreditation through the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools.
“I knew the school and knew the Montessori aspect,” Noble says. “When I saw the house, I just knew it was a perfect fit.”
Funds raised by the playhouse raffle support CASA’s efforts to advocate for abused and neglected children in the court system.
