An article written by Jennifer Nitson appeared in the October 6th Gazette-Times on the phase II playground installation:
Taking advantage of a break in the weather, volunteers rebuilding Garfield School’s playground hustled Friday to make the place ready for kids.
Literally up to their elbows in industrial glue, the volunteers used trowels to spread adhesive that will keep a layer of rubber tiles attached to the concrete under playground equipment they installed last weekend in the pouring rain.
The Garfield Elementary School playground committee has been fundraising for the project since 2003. Designed to be accessible to everyone — with gently sloping ramps, slides, climbing walls and other activities — part of the playground was finished in the summer of 2006.
First-graders at recess pushed against a short wall of stacked rubber tiles, straining towards the new playground equipment with palpable eagerness.
When asked what they thought of what they saw, many children screamed at once: “I love it! I love it! I want to play there!”
“I’m excited about those bars because I like to do flips on them,” said one little girl.
A first-grade boy remarked that falling on the rubber tiles is relatively pleasant compared to the falling on the wood chips under the swing sets.
The little girl was quick to point out that this was not a problem for her.
“I always land on my feet,” she said.
If all goes well with the weather — the tiles must be laid on dry concrete — the kids should be able to start using the new play equipment next week.
Armed with rubber boots, elbow-length rubber gloves and heavy-duty knee-pads, Anne Mattson spread swaths of glue for numerous rubber tiles as she talked about what this playground means to her family.
Mattson’s 8-year-old daughter, Sydney, has cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair to get around. In the past Mattson has avoided driving by Corvallis parks when Sydney was in the car. Sydney invariably wants to stop and play, and none of Corvallis’ playgrounds are truly wheelchair accessible.
“I’m so excited that hopefully next week my daughter will finally have a playground that she can come play at,” Mattson said.
Mattson’s three daughters, Sydney, her twin sister Taylor and 5-year-old Riley, all attend Garfield Elementary and got to watch their mom help install the new playground during recess.
“Sydney and Taylor were cheering me on,” she said. “It’s going to be great. Well overdue.”
Observing the more than a dozen volunteers in their bustling yet organized process of gluing and tiling, Garfield Principal Juan Baez was inspired by the dedication of the volunteers.
“I think this is remarkable, the persistence of the parents,” Baez said. “They’ve not given up, modeling that for all of us and for the children.”
The playground committee originally planned to install the playground equipment in four phases, so fundraising efforts could be spread over a few years. Committee head Heidi Garza hopes the final two phases of the playground can be combined into one.
“We just want to get it done,” she said. “We’d like to finish next summer. We don’t want to do an install next fall.”
Materials and installation for the rest of the project will cost about $75,000 she said.
As soon as work is finished on this phase, Garza and the committee plan to begin raising money to finish the job.
Want to help?
People interested in volunteering to work today or Sunday on the Garfield playground project, donating for the next phase or who have questions regarding the playground can call or e-mail Heidi Garza at 541-928-6517 or heidig@exclusive.com. Tax deductible donations can be dropped off at Garfield Elementary in care of the Garfield PTA, mailed to the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation, P.O. Box 3509J, Corvallis, OR 97339, or made online at http://www.cpsfoundation.org/index.htm. Mark donations for the Garfield playground.