Fundraiser set for Friday in Canfield for special needs playground

Staff report

CANFIELD

The Walnut Grove is hosting an event to raise awareness about its project Friday.

A Walk, Ride and Roll event is starting at 12:30 p.m. at the Mill Creek MetroParks Farm, 7574 Columbiana-Canfield Road. From there, participants will go along the MetroParks Bikeway to the Walnut Grove site, between a property at Western Reserve Road and state Route 46 and south of Buckeye Lawn Service Inc., 8896 Columbiana-Canfield Road.

The Walnut Grove is a 20-acre site, with half of that for walking trails and the other half for handicap-accessible athletic fields and a kindergarten-through-fourth-grade special-needs school. That school has been held up due to water concerns, but the project has gone forward recently with the planting of trees and the focus on the walking trails.

Canfield Presbyterian Church is hosting the three-mile event to raise funds for a playground to be included in the Walnut Grove. That is an idea that has been pursued for years by Amy Whittman, a member of that church.

She had sought to build a special-needs playground because of her experiences with her two sons with muscular dystrophy, and wanting them to be on the higher platforms with all the children on a playground set.

A flier for the Walk, Ride and Roll event features a bicycle for the ride portion and a wheelchair for the roll aspect.

The church is accepting donations for those wanting to give to The Walnut Grove project. If using a check, make it payable to Canfield Presbyterian Church, with Walnut Grove written on the memo line.