43
Volunteers bring inclusive playground to life
CANFIELD
“A space where children with disabilities can play with their friends who don’t have disabilities” is the vision behind The Walnut Grove inclusive playground along state Route 46 here.
Nearly 200 volunteers from all over the Mahoning Valley and beyond erected Phase 1 of the progressive play space Friday and Saturday.
Four years in the making from conception to the start of construction, the inclusive playground also fulfills the wish of the anonymous donor of the 20-acre parcel on which it sets that it be handicapped-accessible, said Amanda Watanakunakorn, vice president of The Walnut Grove Board of Directors, who noted the facility also can be used by adults.
“The vision is to create a space where children with disabilities can play with their friends who don’t have disabilities,” said Watanakunakorn.
Another reason for its creation, Watanakunakorn said, is that there is a lack of acceptable play areas in the area for children with disabilities. The closest comparable one is in Cleveland, and it is 10 years old.
The Phase 1 center section, which was substantially completed by Saturday, includes bridges, slides, a rock-climbing wall and a sway apparatus, like a boat that rocks back and forth, which someone in a wheelchair can operate.
The Walnut Grove inclusive playground, located just south of Canfield Fairgrounds, goes well beyond American Disability Act requirements, said Watanakunakorn.
The second part of the $500,000 Phase 1, which is expected to be completed in mid-November, includes a concrete walkway around the nearly 1-acre site and poured-in-place rubber on its interior deck.
In addition to “tons of families and community members,” staff and parents from community organizations added to the swarm of volunteer workers, Watanakunakorn said.
Organizations included Potential Development Autisim Education in Youngstown, for which Shellie Duchek, The Walnut Grove board president, works; Rich Center for Autism at Youngstown State University; Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ Leonard Kirtz School; Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown; Kent State University’s Stark County and main campus occupational therapy students; Canfield Local School District; Northeast Ohio Medical University; and YSU men’s baseball team.
Not only did volunteers turn out in large numbers, Duchek said that “pretty much everybody we approached for donations contributed money or in-kind services.”
For example, Watanakunakorn said, RF Management of Canfield donated 15 cubic yards of concrete, and others donated food and water for the volunteers.
Phase 2, which will cost about $1 million, includes make-believe stations, such as an ice-cream shop, where children can pretend to engage in activities. Also, The Walnut Grove directors are working on a trail through its property to connect it with Mill Creek MetroParks’ bike path, an 11-mile paved trail that runs from Canfield to Austintown. Other future visions for The Walnut Grove include Miracle League baseball and soccer/football fields, said Duchek.
Duchek and Watanakunakorn said they shed tears of gratitude as they watched the volunteers bring the inclusive playground to life.
“This is our dream unfolding before our eyes,” Watanakunakorn said.