Text Box: Our Story: “A Dream Come True” A History of the Playground Project “A Dream Come True” 2001—2011 Never underestimate the power of a dream of a group of kids! In February 2001, a group high school Girl Scouts from Girl Scout Troop 506 were meeting in a classroom in the West Tower of Rockingham Memorial Hospital. Monthly this group of girls met to make baby hats for the newborns in the Family Birth Place. The hat making service project had been a regular service project of the girls for several years, resulting in over 2,000 newborn hats! During this meeting, the girls discussed possible community service projects for their Gold Award. The Gold Award is the highest award given in the Girl Scout program. Community service was a focus of this group of scouts and determining a project for their Gold Award was going to be a challenge. The troop had spent years involved in numerous areas of service to Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. The girls did not take long to determine that they wanted to design and build a playground where children with and without disabilities would be able to play together. The idea and dream began and have not wavered from that moment. The girls started by researching locations of existing accessible inclusive playgrounds in Virginia to see if any playground existed that they could visit. They looked into play equipment companies and began pricing equipment. Given their ages and the tremendous task, the amount of work the girls accomplished is staggering. Their raised the initial $22,000 toward the project before the end of the Girl Scout phase. Almost immediately, a meeting was set up with David Wigginton with the Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation and the possibility of land being designated for the girl’s playground near Kids Castle. The girls met with David Wigginton, and the Department of Parks and Recreation took them seriously! The city agreed to donate the land near Kids Castle for the new playground. We were given the small area inside the fence just off the parking lot. It seemed large and wonderful to us. The name of the playground, “A Dream Come True” was chosen within a few weeks of the first thoughts of the playground. The girls have grown up over the past seven years and are no longer in Girl Scouts. In 2004, the project became a community service project with full support of the Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation. All funding was turned over to Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation until the playground is built. The playground project, “A Dream Come True” continues to be an all volunteer effort. The location of the playground has moved two more times. For a couple of years it was going to be located at the west end of Purcell Park just past the tennis courts where the old airplane was located. We were up to 10,000 square feet and had our first actual conceptual design on paper. In, January 2007 “A Dream Come True” Playground will be the focus of a new Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation Park to be located on Neff Avenue near Sun Chase Apartments. What an honor to have a park designated for this wonderful, unique and very necessary playground. The girls are now young adults, but the one thing that has not changed is their commitment to the playground and the children who have been dreaming along with us for the past seven years. Our memories go back to the children in the classroom at Pleasant Valley Elementary School who shared their play dreams with us years ago. We know they are older, but we have honored their play wishes by including each in the playground design. Inspiration continues to come from many places in the girl’s lives. Both of their scout leaders have worked with children with severe disabilities in their careers and volunteer work. Friends and sister scouts include dear people with challenging disabilities and catastrophic diseases. Some people just wait for things to happen and other people go out into the world and make it happen. These girls decided to try to Make A Dream Come True. The Story Continues June 2008 Dreams Can Move Hills! We celebrated our seven year anniversary on February 10, 2008 and we continue to move closer to the reality of this playground being built. So much is happening right now, we are making decisions about specific pieces of playground equipment, placing the equipment into the design, creating unique playground equipment that does not currently exist with playground companies, making selections for the accessible ground covering, working with the architects on creating “little buildings” for imaginary play and the list goes on. We hope to soon be able to put a list of the types of equipment that will be on the playground and some pictures of equipment that will be similar to what we have chosen. Currently the playground design is in its final stages of development, and it is so hard to describe what an exciting adventure this has been to watch all of this come to life on paper. You must drive by the site and watch the excavation in progress!!! The excavation of the park site on Neff Avenue will be completed during the summer of 2008 and we have one more year to finish raising the necessary funding for the playground equipment and the accessible ground covering. The playground equipment and the ground covering are the responsibility of the “A Dream Come True” Volunteers and we are determined to reach a goal of $400,000 by spring 2009. We promised the children and we will somehow reach the goal. The City of Harrisonburg has graciously donated the land, paid for the excavation of the park, public utilities, will construct the inclusive accessible restroom facility and picnic shelter, parking lot and entrance road. The City has taken on the entire cost of the new park and all costs associated with opening and maintaining a new park in the Department of Parks and Recreation. We say thank you over and over to The City of Harrisonburg, The City Council, and The Department of Parks and Recreation for believing in our dream and helping it become reality for the children. Good things are happening in our community! We need your support with fundraising :) Please support the playground by making a donation toward the playground equipment or the accessible ground covering. All donations come from the heart and are so appreciated! Thanks so much August 2008 Thomas Bowers Circle The excavation of the park has now been completed and on Friday, August 8th the street sign for the entrance road to the park and playground was put in place. The entrance road is named in honor of Thomas Bowers. The parking lot and turn around circle are completed and construction of the restroom facility will begin within the next two weeks. Progress Continues! September 3, 2008 “A Dream Come True” Playground Signs USA Thanks to Signs USA we now have a beautiful sign at the playground announcing to the community the location of the playground and when it will be completed. Drive by and see the great sign and the construction underway for the restroom facility. September 15, 2008 Playground will be built in two phases We need your help! The cost of the entire playground including playground equipment, the sensory garden and the accessible ground surfacing has become a very expensive project for the volunteers; the Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation and the city of Harrisonburg. The volunteers have raised approximately $258,000 and the Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation has helped locate funding sources to increase funding to around $640,000. We will need an additional $500,000 to build the complete the entire project in one phase. The cost continues to go up because we have been working on the playground for over 7 years and the price of equipment becomes more expensive over time. We have designed an amazing playground that will serve the play needs of children who have not been able to play and for all of our healthy children who play every day. The play equipment is safe and high quality and some of the equipment will be uniquely created just for the “A Dream Come True” Playground. We realize that as volunteers we are asking a lot from the community to support such an expensive service project. It is our hope and dream that you will understand the incredible importance of this playground. Please call, email or write to us and ask any questions you may have. We will do our very best to answer your questions. Phase One will be constructed during the spring and summer of 2009 and the playground will open during the summer of 2009. Fundraising will be ongoing until the entire playground is completed. We will continue to work very hard to raise the funding necessary for the play activities that are to be added during the construction of Phase Two. Examples of play equipment that will be included in Phase Two: The Little Farm—This a wonderful little play barn where children will be able to play both inside and outside of the barn. The barn is both accessible and inclusive and has been designed just for our playground. We are looking for a business to sponsor The Little Farm. If a business sponsors the Little Farm they will be able to name the farm. We also need the assistance of a special craftsperson to help build the barn. The Draw Wall—In the Sensory Garden we have a chalk draw wall designed that will provide children a place to create with chalk. The chalk wall is accessible to children in standing and seated positions. The wall will provide a temporary place to display a child’s art work. We are excited to announce that The Draw Wall has been completed and will be present when the playground opens on May 1st, 2010. The Draw Wall was designed and created by Richmond Rockscapes. The “A Dream Come True” Volunteers remain committed to the playground and we need your support. Please send a tax-deductible donation to The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham today. Thank you Spring / Summer 2009 Many wonderful things have been happening with the playground project during the past six months. The restroom facilities and the parking lot are both completed. A contract has been awarded to Park and Play Structures for their playground design and equipment that will be included in phase one of the “A Dream Come True” playground. We are so happy to be working with Scott Dubois from Southern Playgrounds for this portion of the playground. The total cost of the “A Dream Come True” playground has grown to just over a million dollars and we are continuing to work hard to raise funding for the project. It is quite clear now that building the playground in sections is necessary due to the cost of the entire project. The accessibility and inclusiveness of the playground equipment remain our top priorities. The ground surfacing must be accessible and provide and environment that is barrier free for the children. On Monday, July 13, 2009, we held the official groundbreaking ceremony on the playground site! The weather was beautiful and it was so wonderful to stop for just a moment and realize that very soon playground equipment will begin to appear on the playground site. Representatives from the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham; past and present City Council; the Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation; the Parks and Recreation Commission and the dedicated group of playground volunteers attended the ceremony. We laughed, cried and talked together for about an hour. For the volunteers it was clearly a “pinch me” ceremony! The moment had finally arrived to exhale just a little bit, and then go back to raising money for the next phase. Thanks for following our story. Remember the story is always and most importantly about the children. There are still children who have not played on a playground; children who only have the opportunity to watch other children play from the side of the playground. We want to change that for the children in the valley. Please be thankful for all children you know and love who are able to play on a playground and remember those who are waiting for “A Dream Come True” so that they will be able to play on a playground. Please consider becoming involved with the playground project by telling others what you know and by mailing a small donation to The Community Foundation (see the fundraising page for details). Thanks

Harrisonburg Department of Parks and Recreation

Davidw@ci.harrisonburg.va.us

pichild@aol.com

540.433.9168

http://www.harrisonburgva.gov

http://www.harrisonburgva.gov/
The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg/Rockingham