News - Local
Help build a playground for handicapped children
Posted: May 14, 2010 7:52 AM by Bea Karnes, News First 5
Updated: May 14, 2010 7:52 AM
A universally accessible playground is under construction at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. Backers of the playground are seeking volunteers to put the finishing touches on the play space this Sunday, 1-4 pm. Meet in the southwest corner of the park.
Volunteers are needed to prepare soil and lay sod, install new shrubs and fence, and do basic site clean up to get the playground ready for its grand opening on Saturday, May 22.
The playground was built through a partnership between the City Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department's TOPS (Trails, Open Space and Parks) Program and the local nonprofit, The Swing High Project, headed by Olympic medal-winning gymnast Michelle Dusserre-Farrell, who has a ten-year-old daughter with spina bifida.
No tax dollars were used in the project, which cost almost a million dollars. Funding provided by:
- TOPS Program $400,000
- Great Outdoors Colorado $200,000
- Developer parkland dedication fees $150,000
- Phil Long Community Grant and Broncos Charities $110,000
- Gates Family Foundation $25,000
- El Pomar Foundation $10,000
- King Soopers $10,000
- Aerials Gymnastics $10,000
- Swing High donors $22,000
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