110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - magazine - Index

PEEKS I PERSONA
interested, but we had no idea where we would
build such a thing.
By some “coincidence,” Mike Erwin, CEO of the
Mount Diablo YMCA, was at the same meeting
presenting the status of the YMCA development
project. The current YMCA facility is located in
portable buildings on a lot next to O’Hara Park
Middle School. Now they are fundraising in order
to create a permanent structure on the same
property, further off the street, which would free
up a large space of city-owned property
connected with the proposed facility that they
didn’t know what to do with.
A light went on in both our minds. Following
the meeting we pitched the playground to Mike,
who immediately saw the wisdom of the idea.
Mike and I worked together to create a design for
the project. And then last November I read the
article in 110° Magazine about Lisa McBride’s
Special Kids Foundation. I called her and
suggested that we join forces.
We met with Mike Erwin at Brentwood’s
Gabby’s Grind for the planning meeting. It turned
out that the project was just what Lisa needed.
The downturn in the economy had slowed Lisa’s
implementation of her ambitious plans.
“I wasn’t opening any doors,” Lisa told us.
“You guys were door-openers.” The Special Kids
Board of Directors embraced the playground as
Phase 1 of their plan for meeting the needs of
special needs kids in our area.
I took pictures of the barriers free playground
at Roberts Regional Park in Oakland that
provides resources for non-disabled young children
with disabled parents.
We presented the plan for the playground to
the council. After hearing the report and seeing
my pictures the Oakley City Council voted unanimously
to approve the playground.
The playground plays right into the YMCA’s
mission. Mike pointed out how the changing
18 www.110mag.com September/October 2008
“We’ve been “playing together in the sandbox”
with this thing for a few months, and from the
beginning we’ve felt that we’re on a mission to
accomplish something good in this world.”
demographics in the area have resulted in the Y
refining and honing its mission statement.
They won’t try to compete with places like
Club One or In Shape City, but have stepped up
to help special needs families, offering a broad
range of services.
One major outcome of the play area will be to
break down the stigma sometimes associated
with special needs. Children will discover the
things that they all share in common, which is a
love for playing and smiling.
Our hearts are touched by the ability of children
to engage us at a deep level. Lisa’s 8-yearold
daughter, Hannah, has a friend who is
non-verbal and unable to bear her weight, but
her heart is filled with love for Hannah. Her face
lights up when she hears Hannah’s voice. And
Hannah loves her.
We’ll tear down the walls that separate children
of various abilities from each other.
Regularly abled and neuro-typical children will
play alongside special needs children and will
learn to recognize the often-astonishing abilities
that even children with the most severe
disabilities will often display.
A child who, perhaps, is unable to kick a soccer
ball or throw a baseball might, nevertheless,
have powers of observation, qualities of loyalty,
or a winsome sense of humor that will delight
the other kids if they will only spend enough
time to discover those shining gifts.
Our playground will provide a happy destination
for children with disabilities, some of whom when
they get into a car assume they are going to the
doctor or therapist, since that is almost the only
destination they ever have.
UNDER THE HOOD
The playground will be designed with multidimensional
accommodations to whatever abilities
a child may possess. We’ll overcome the
heartrending experience of children at the edge
of a play area who sit disconsolately in their
wheelchairs while they watch other children
having fun.
Besides providing equipment that children
can easily get on and off, we will incorporate
kinesis and sensory qualities that will attract
Downs Syndrome and Autistic children. Kids will
be able to explore and experiment using a variety
of media — playing with chimes, cranking
gears, manipulating water flow, peering through
tubes, altering the refraction of light, and
rubbing their hands or cheeks against a variety
of textured surfaces.
We will build into the playground qualities
that will preserve safety while maximizing enjoyment.
We’re planning for Oakley to become a
model of how to support special needs families.
People will come from Southern California
simply to learn how we did this.
The playground project has grown beyond its
original boundaries. Kevin and I, together with
Pat Anderson, Mike Painter, and Shirley Darling,
formed a non-profit Friends of Oakley Com -
munity Foundation.
The Foundation is a public supported philanthropic
institution to promote the playground project,
but will be available for all kinds of similar
projects within the City of Oakley and its environs.
The foundation will operate like the United
Way. Donations can be made into a central fund
and then apportioned to the various approved
projects creating endowments, plus supporting
public health projects, library programs,
community centers, etcetera.
The foundation will play into the amazing
community spirit that is thriving in our area.
When Eric & Tanya Nunn died in the tragic plane
crash last June people who were anxious to do
something — anything — seemed to come out of
the woodwork.