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'A dream come true'

Facility gives all children a place to play

Sunday, August 13, 2006

BY JERRY L. GLEASON

Of The Patriot-News

Reilly Johnson no longer has to watch from the sidelines as other children have fun swinging, working their way to the top of a treehouse or building sand castles.

Despite being in a wheelchair, Reilly can use all of the facilities at the new Possibility Place playground in Lower Paxton Twp.

"It's very cool," Reilly, 8, said. "There are lots of things I can do here."  

Possibility Place, which is in George Park on Nyes Road , is the first fully handicap-accessible playground in central Pennsylvania . The playground opened yesterday.

"This is a playground where all children, with or without physical challenges, can play together and stretch their imaginations," said Janis Creason, vice president of Inspired Recreation, the committee that directed the playground project.

Reilly, son of Nan and Neal Johnson of Lower Paxton Twp., was one of the inspirations for the park. He has spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy, but that doesn't keep him from wanting to play like other kids.

Creason said she was at a picnic with the Johnson family two years ago when she noticed that Reilly couldn't join the children on the playground.

"Reilly said he wished he could be out there, with the other kids, and that got me thinking of how do children in wheelchairs or with any physical challenge use a playground," Creason said.

Creason talked to David Blain, a Lower Paxton Twp. supervisor, about making a township playground handicap accessible. Blain introduced her to Ann Phillips, who wanted to create a playground in an open field near her home.

Together, Creason and Phillips formed a committee to make it a possibility.

"It was time to put a playground of this quality in Lower Paxton Twp.," Phillips said.

The committee raised $250,000 in cash and more than twice that in in-kind donations, and enlisted the help of 1,500 volunteers to build the playground.

It also received the assistance of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard's 193rd Civil Engineer Squadron, which installed water and electrical service for the playground and helped build the facilities.  

Some of the components at Possibility Place are a large treehouse with ramps at different levels, a recording studio and stage, a large kaleidoscope in a lookout tower, and play areas connected by wide ramps and open spaces. A resilient ground cover was designed to make the travel of those in wheelchairs, on crutches or pushing strollers easier and safer.

RoseAnne Horan said her son, Jordan , loves to swing and to slide, but he uses a wheelchair, making it difficult to use most playgrounds. Now that he weighs 100 pounds, it is tough for her to lift him onto the equipment.

" Jordan has cerebral palsy, and while he is physically challenged, he participates in horseback riding, bowling and other activities," Horan said. "The only missing link in his life was going to the playground.

"When I heard that they were planning a handicap-accessible playground I said I will believe it when I see it. And, boy, do I believe it! We can't wait to try it out."

Nan and Neal Johnson said the playground is a blessing for families with physically challenged children.

"We would take Reilly to the park, but there wasn't anything he could really do at most playgrounds," Nan Johnson said.

"This is a dream come true. You want your kids to do normal things, and here Reilly can do those things." Janis Creason

The playground feature Reilly is looking most forward to using is a recording and performance stage, where he hopes to present concerts. Janis Creason

Reilly loves to sing and has presented public performances, including singing at a political rally for President George W. Bush in Lancaster two years ago. He sang "God Bless America " yesterday for the playground's opening ceremony.

"I love to sing," he said.

JERRY L. GLEASON: 975-9782 or jgleason@patriot-news.com

 

CILCP NewsRoom

CILCP JOINS EFFORT TO BUILD CENTRAL PA'S 

FIRST ACCESSIBLE PLAYGROUND
Playground organizers looking for volunteers and sponsors to help reach goals

CILCP's staff will volunteer during "Build Week" for Possibility Place, a public playground that will be accessible to all children, with or without disabilities.
 
(Camp Hill, Pa.) - The Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania (CILCP) has announced that their staff will volunteer during "Build Week" for Possibility Place, a public playground that will be accessible to all children, with or without disabilities. This will be the first completely accessible playground in Central Pennsylvania. The park will open in the summer of 2006 and will be located in Lower Paxton Township's new George Park.

Along with providing financial support, more than 25 members of the CILCP staff will join other volunteers to help during "Build Week." Scheduled to start after the completion of George Park construction, Build Week will occur June 14-18, 2006.

"CILCP is honored to have the opportunity to help with the development of Possibility Place," CILCP Executive Director Theotis Braddy said. "For this project, the local community is coming together and building a playground where all children can play side-by-side."

The idea for Possibility Place was organized by a group of Dauphin County community volunteers after they recognized a strong need for a fully accessible playground in Central Pennsylvania. It will be the first playground of its kind in the area. Any individual, including children, parents and guardians, will be able to access the playground's creative equipment.

Possibility Place organizers are estimating that they will need to raise at least $300,000 to complete the project. They are accepting donations including supplies, money, building products, and food and refreshments for Build Week volunteers. Additionally, they are selling fence post sponsorships for $50, which will include an inscription from the sponsor. At least 1,000 volunteers will be needed to help with construction.

"We are hopeful that the community will rally around this project and join us during Build Week," Braddy said. "This is a project that can create a lot of pride for residents of Lower Paxton Township and the surrounding area."

CILCP actively continues to promote and raise additional funds for Possibility Place. Meetings concerning the development of Possibility Place are being held every second and fourth Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in Devonshire Memorial Church located at 5630 Devonshire Road in Harrisburg. George Park is located on Nyes Road in Lower Paxton Township.

For more information on Possibility Place visit www.PossibilityPlace.org, or for volunteer information contact Ann Phillips at 717-671-8407 or ann@possibilityplace.org. or Janis Creason at 540-7150.

The Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania is a nonprofit, nonresidential organization established for and by people with disabilities and serves Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry, Mifflin, and Juniata counties. CILCP's vision is to empower people with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of society.

For more information on CILCP visit www.cilcp.org or contact Nathan Pigott at 717-975-2148 or via email at npigott@hersheyphilbin.com.

Dreaming up a playground
Kids brainstorm with designers on recreation area to open in June

BY DIANA FISHLOCK
The Patriot-News
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
 

Imagine a rock-climbing wall that leads to a trampoline the size of a basketball court. Imagine a jet pack that would shoot you to the top of a tree house with your friends.

Imagine a dark, low tunnel leading to a twisty, fast slide.

Central Dauphin School District elementary school students imagined their dream playground and brainstormed with designers from Leathers & Associates, a firm from Ithaca, N.Y., specializing in custom community playgrounds.

At a celebration Thursday, designers unveiled a playground schematic drawing to a group of about 60 parents and kids eager to play.

Designers couldn’t use all the ideas from hundreds of kids, but the finished design included an airplane, a large tree house with ramps to different levels, a recording studio and stage, a sandbox, monkey bars, slides, swings, and a kaleidoscope in a lookout tower.

The playground is scheduled to become real next June in George Park off Nyes Road in Lower Paxton Twp.

The playground will be accessible to people with a variety of disabilities. Janis Creason imagined that part.

Creason, 51, the mother of four daughters, wanted a playground where her friend’s disabled son could play.

Since she couldn’t find one in the area, she began researching accessible playgrounds online and on trips.

She wanted a playground all kids could use and all parents and grandparents could visit.

And she wanted a playground that would be fun.

Creason and about 15 other parents formed the Possibility Place Committee. They hope to make all of Lower Paxton Twp.’s playgrounds accessible.

For now, they need to raise money to pay for the new playground and recruit adult volunteers to help build it.

The playground will be built of recycled lumber, which doesn’t splinter, said Ann Phillips, who dreamed of a playground in George Park and combined forces with Creason.

It will have cushiony material on the ground instead of tan bark mulch and railroad ties, which are difficult to traverse with a wheelchair or crutches and hard to play on after rain or snow, Phillips said.

“It looks fabulous,” Creason said of the designers’ drawing.

“I’m thrilled. They got it,” she said. “They definitely got it.”

DIANA FISHLOCK: 255-8251 or dfishlock@patriot-news.com.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
 For more information on how to donate or volunteer, call 671-8407.

Design Day Pictures
       
 

© Inspired Recreation 2006