Voting for an accessible future for play

At 22-years-old, the Indus school playground is coming to the end of its service life and has begun to show its age.
“There’s a lot of rusting on it, several pieces that aren’t working,” said the President of the Indus School Council Society Monique Williams, “there’s the wooden platforms that the kids constantly get splinters.”
Additionally, Williams said that the current playground, being more than 20 years old, was not designed to all kids with mobility issues to play on it.
“It’s not accessible at all because of the pea gravel safety surfacing and the pressure treated wood around the outside…it’s not accessible to anybody with a wheelchair, walker, any kind of mobility issue,” she said.
To ensure that kids at the school of all abilities can continue to make great recess memories, the society has been fundraising for a new accessible playground that they plan to build this July.
To that end, they have applied for the Calgary Hitmen Foundation Community Restoration Program.
They are one of three projects vying for the $50,000 prize. The winner is decided through an online vote that closes on March. 2.
“I’m just very excited, I love to see the community come together towards a purpose,” said.
She said that the society is asking everyone in the community to support them for this project.
“It definitely benefits the entire community because of the proximity to the recreation centre…there’s hockey from Chestermere…and the kids are always out on the playground currently,” said Williams.
“There’s always a lot of community around,” she said.
The new playground will cost about $340,00 to install. So far, the society has about $50,000 through various fundraising efforts. They have also received grants from Rocky View County and the school division.
They are still waiting to hear whether they will get the Provincial Communities Facility Enhancement Program grant of $125,000.
Williams said that if they don’t get this grant they will probably have to postpone the build until 2019.
In designing the new playground, the focus has always been on making sure it was both inclusive and accessible.
“We don’t just want a piece of equipment that children with disabilities can play on, we want everyone to be able to play together,” said Williams.
To vote in support of the Indus School accessible playground go to http://hitmenhockey.com/community-restoration-program-voting.