A Place to Play (Article in The Mountain Press)

A Place to Play: Group working to create all-inclusive playground

by GAIL CRUTCHFIELD

8 hrs ago | 0  | 0  |  | 

A child’s playground is usually a happy place, with the sights and sounds of children running around, climbing jungle gyms and pushing their feet toward the sky on swing sets.

But one small group of people noticed how children confined to wheelchairs or otherwise unable to utilize the traditional playground equipment were left on the sidelines to watch other children enjoy those amenities. That group is now working to generate the funds needed to create an all-inclusive playground specially designed for children with special needs.

Project Sevier began as a community project out of the 2011 class of Leadership Tomorrow, a program of Leadership Sevier that provides adults 40 and younger insight into the community and encourages service projects.

Lisa Bremer, Cecil Page II and Darren Bailey were grouped during their tenure in Leadership Sevier and took on as their project the idea of providing a place to play for special-needs children. None of them have special-needs children of their own.

Their goal during their time in Leadership Tomorrow was to get the land donated. Their job was to follow up on their own after they graduated from Leadership Tomorrow, and make sure the project didn’t stall.

The group applied for status as a non-profit agency and, working with the city of Sevierville, was donated a small tract of land next to LeConte Medical Center. The group will host a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 a.m. Nov. 2 at the site near the corner of Millwood and Middle Creek drives.

The groundbreaking will cap almost a year’s worth of planning and effort by the three individuals who saw a need and decided to do something about it.

“The challenge with Leadership Tomorrow is, you have to do a community service project,” Bremer said. “They said to think of something that would make a big change for years to come. So I guess we went above and beyond in thinking about this project.”

Bremer and Page said they all saw how much an all-inclusive park was needed while at a picnic held for their Leadership Tomorrow class.

“We had program day out at Pigeon Forge Park,” Page said. “There was a group of kids out there, and there were six kids in wheelchairs sitting outside the park just watching the other kids play. That touched us.”

They approached the children and started playing catch with them and talking to them about things they would like to be able to do on a playground.

“We asked what they wished they could do and what they would like,” Page said.

Among their wishes was the ability to swing. “Something we take for granted,” Page said.

Page said the closest all-inclusive park is located more than an hour away.

Bremer said the playground at Trula Lawson is wheelchair-accessible, but it’s closed to the public at the end of the school day and during the summer. They asked staff at the school for input on the design of a park that can be used by everyone, not only those with special needs.

The biggest expense will be the more than $20,000 for the rubber flooring that allows easy maneuverability for wheelchairs.

“We’re hoping there is some company out there that would be willing to put the rubber flooring down, because they can put their logo in the floor,” Bremer said. They’re looking for sponsors for that.

Equipment to install includes activity centers themed after rescue vehicles such as fire trucks, ambulances and police cars, plus swings and even a rock wall.

“Our plan is to have a rock wall that is not a steep one, but is for kids with special needs as well,” Bremer said.

In all, the group needs to raise around $100,000. Bremer and Page said once built, the park will be maintained by the city of Sevierville.

If it were up to Bremer, the playground would already be a reality.

“I’m hoping,” she said, “we get it completed before Feb. 1.”

Page said he can’t wait to see the playground built and in use.

“Not only will it be gratifying for us personally, but for the community itself,” he said. “There are so many kids in our county right now that struggle with special needs. We’re doing a disservice in not stepping out of the box and helping.”

Those willing to help can contact Bremer at 368-5455 or by email to projectsevier@gmail.com. More information is available on the Project Sevier blog at http://projectsevier.blogspot.com and on the group’s Facebook page.

Read more: The Mountain Press - A Place to Play Group working to create all inclusive playground