Here is how it all started. A few summers ago, I went out on-site to talk with the local Parks and Recreation director, Dave Christiansen, and shoot some photos of a playground the city was resurfacing.
We talked about the state of the playgrounds in the city of Idaho Falls, my observation being that there were many and they seemed to stay in good repair. We really do have a great Parks and Recreation staff here that works hard to keep playgrounds accessible and in compliance.
He told me of a universally-accessible playground being planned for at the time by citizens, to be built in Tautphaus Park—a beautiful place full of activities for all ages including a small amusement park. It would be the Equal Access Playground, a community-built play space. One of the project originators was Lisa Hamilton, so I scheduled lunch with her to find out the details. She and Molly Graeber had been in contact with Christiansen and were rallying support throughout the community.
When meeting with Hamilton, I was invited to attend weekly meetings and became even more excited about the prospect of bringing such a wonderful play opportunity to the community. There were about eight to ten active participants on the committee at that time, and I was happy to be a part of the effort. Most of the structures had been chosen, and a great schematic had been drawn up to show what the playground would look like. My role would be to let the rest of the committee decide on structures and surfacing and mainly help with fundraising and promotion, and it looked like we would need to raise over $300,000 dollars.
One of the great things about this committee has been the diversity of members. This is important, especially when working with the community for donations because some people can reach individuals or businesses that someone else in the community may not. One of my functions for fundraising was, and still is, helping with public relations, and working with the media—a perfect fit, given my profession.
Some other original committee members include a physical therapist, Lisa Hamilton; an elementary school teacher with a child with disabilities, Molly Graeber; COO of the Development Workshop, Mike O’Bleness; mother of a child with disabilities, Amy Schmutz; owners of Alpine Medical Sales & Rentals, Brent and Christy Parker; U.S. Postal Service mail carrier and father of a child with disabilities, Rick Hemperly; mother of a child with disabilities, Darla Hoff; school district software administrator and mother of a child with disabilities, Rene Miller; and Kiwanis member and father of a child with disabilities, Burt Butler. The committee ebbed and flowed through the years, losing and gaining members as a committee will—something that can be expected as life-changing events occur for people.
Meetings had been held by this committee for about a year before I began attending, and they had worked out a lot of details for the composition of the playground. It was time for fundraising to begin though, and this diverse group of individuals all brought great ideas to the table. This reiterates the importance of involving people with different talents, specialties, and resources on a committee, especially for a community-building project.
The city would donate the land for the project, we would work through a local non-profit, Parent-to-Parent, with accounting, and the committee would continue design and fundraising--consulting with the city’s Certified Playground Safety Inspector, Tim Arehart, throughout the project to make sure that the playground would be in compliance with CPSC and ASTM.
Several members of the committee, including myself, also participated in KaBOOM!’s University of Play along the way to get more ideas for fundraising and to be involved in the inner workings of the community-building concept.
Many grants have been written over the past three years, and many fundraising events have been coordinated and held to raise well over $350,000. A lot of the events seemed to bring in about $5,000 each. Individuals and businesses in the community, too numerous to mention all here, have been great supporters. Options, Inc. for one, donated tens of thousands of dollars, well over $40,000, to the cause in memory of Shaunna Birkenbine.
An annual golf scramble has been held for the past three years, well-supported by businesses and individual golfers. The Outback Steakhouse, Applebee’s, and Dixie’s Diner have all helped with fundraising dinners. The Outback actually hosted two dinners, donated all the food for 400 people, let the committee sell tickets, and also donated employee time to serve the meals. At one of these dinners, Thrivent for Lutherans also matched funds earned. These dinners came to earn approximately $5,000 before matching funds counted.
There were so many area businesses that donated that aren’t listed here, but the committee would like to thank all who helped in any way. Sometimes it wasn’t just money donated, but valuable time and resources as well. You’ll find when fundraising that a lot of heart goes into these projects, not just from committee members but from members of the community as well.
Other fundraising events included a dance, a fireman’s breakfast, a mother’s luncheon right before Mother’s Day, a raffle of a plane ride, a diamond ring drop, and a garden tour facilitated by local garden club members. A local car club also donated proceeds from one of its shows to the playground fund. The local Kiwanis club spearheaded the creation and selling of a customized Monopoly game titled The Greater Idaho Falls Game. Club members sold property spaces, listings in the center, and sponsorship for the play money as advertising for donors. Production of the game was paid for with these sponsorships, so when the games arrived all the proceeds of sales could go toward the playground fund.
A Citywide Day of Play was also held to raise awareness of the playground and to thank the community for its support. The mayor declared the third Saturday of September as Citywide Day of Play, and music, food, games, and a lot of fun were had by organizers and participants.
After three years of serious fundraising, it was time to build the playground. Much preparation took place for this, and the committee worked hard to make sure that every detail was considered for a seamless build day. The local Sheriff’s Inmate Labor Detail took care of much of the concrete work, along with local construction companies. Home Depot and Lowe’s donated crews for build day as well as hole drilling for the structures. Again, there were so many contributors that they can’t all be listed here. The committee wanted to make sure everyone felt appreciated, so they had a large bear carved by Jonathan the Bear Man from Jackson Hole, Wyo. It holds a sign, “Thanks for Helping Bear the Expense,” and it lists all the major donors. Any committee member will tell you how grateful they are for every single person who helped in any way with this project. It just couldn’t have been done without all involved.
Build day was a huge success with approximately 150 volunteers helping in many capacities including build crews, whose captains met earlier to make sure all the details were considered for build day. Food was donated by area businesses, and volunteers served.
A children’s area complete with games and activities to last all day was supervised by volunteers, so lack of childcare would not be a reason someone could not participate in build day. Music and a DJ were provided to help keep hard-working volunteers motivated. Tiles for a wall inside the shelter had been decorated by local children, so a crew worked out the details for this and put it together that day.
A beautiful mural of children playing was painted on the north, outside wall of the shelter. This was designed by Virginia Sargent, and her grandchildren helped paint the mural before and on build day.
After a successful build day, the poured-in-place surfacing was installed. It was decided that a lighter color should be used so that it wouldn’t absorb as much heat from the sun. Since the playground was located near the city zoo, it was decided it would have somewhat of an animal theme. Thus the bear for the donor sign, a hippopotamus above the triple slide, a huge fish for climbing on, and Harry the Hippo for smaller children to climb in, on, and through. In keeping with this theme, bear paws were designed into the surfacing, leading children from one play event to another.
This completed Phase I of the playground. Phase II includes sound garden equipment, and funds are still being raised for this. Were there hurdles along the way? Absolutely, but that is why having a diverse group of individuals on a committee is so valuable. Everyone has strengths and resources that someone else may not have, so combining these is really what made this playground project such a success.
Some days it seems like there must be 100 children on this playground. They are all moving too fast to count them, but the playground is usually full—and the community is so grateful to have another wonderful play space that all can enjoy.
