Playground becoming accessible to everyone

As a cluster of energetic girls swung on the “triangle bars” and did flips off the “circle bars” on the playground at Garfield Elementary School, nearly two dozen adults worked in another part of the play area Friday morning.

The group of parents and volunteers from Home Depot and the community had been there since 7 a.m. to help complete a dream five years in the making: to build a playground that could serve the whole community, including people with physical limitations.

“It’s happening, baby!” exclaimed Heidi Garza, as she hugged another volunteer.

Garza has been one of the key leaders in the push to build the new playground at Garfield. The first two phases of construction were completed last year and now, seeing the final pieces of the structure come together, was almost more excitement than Garza could stand.

The goal Friday was to set into concrete what looked like a forest of brown steel posts. The posts will support two large ship-shaped and castle-like structures that feature a climbing wall and several slides and a series of ramps that can be navigated by children who use wheelchairs. The committee behind the $180,000 project had hired consultant Dennis Bleser of Grants Pass to supervise the weekend installation and they weren’t wasting any time getting the job done.

By Sunday night, the entire assembly should be finished, Garza said. Next Saturday, on Aug. 2, another group of volunteers will install the last of the rubber tiles under the playground equipment, and children should be able to start playing on the structures soon afterward.

Eight-year-old Xia Sireix-Royston was there playing in the finished area of the play yard with Garza’s two daughters, 7-year-old Mia and 10-year-old Gabi. She said she’s attended Garfield since kindergarten, and playing on the new playground was one of her favorite things to do.

Xia explained the rubber-tile surface was especially nice for when kids fall. “It still hurts when you fall from a high part, but it’s better than the bark chips that used to be here.

“That didn’t hurt either, but the bark stuff really itches,” she said, before adding the rubber surface is “good for chasing boys, too.”

Hannah Harding, 10, came with her parents, Amy and Phil Harding, who were also helping with the construction. The family recently moved to Corvallis from Albany, and the Garfield playground was one of the things that helped them decide to move into the neighborhood and enroll Hannah in fifth grade there.

“At the beginning of the summer, I saw a couple of kids in wheelchairs playing here,” Hannah said. She said it made her feel good that “everyone had a chance to play on it.”

Ron Prevost, a retired employee of Hewlett-Packard, shared that he had been waiting to help at Friday’s work party for a long time. Prevost’s 6-year-old son, Matthew, was a first-grader at Garfield before he died in December, 1991 from a number of health complications — including cerebral palsy — that were related to his premature birth.

“Matthew loved to come to school here, and even though he was oftentimes in a wheelchair, he loved being outside with the other kids,” Prevost said. “You know when someone really struggles, how they always seem to have a spirit that encourages others? That was Matthew.”

Prevost said that when he and his wife, Mary, learned that a group of parents was trying to build a handicap accessible playground at Garfield, they knew they had to help. The couple have donated money and participated in many fund-raising efforts over the past five years.

Garza reported that a sign will be attached to the ship portion of the play structure identifying it as the USS Matthew in memory of the little boy. She was hopeful the sign will remind people of why the new playground was so important.

The playground’s design will give children with physical disabilities a chance to play alongside their friends in ways no other playground in town lets them, Garza said.

“I want them to do anything they can,” she said.

HOW TO HELP

Volunteers are needed to help install new playground equipment at Garfield Elementary School on Sunday between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed who can help place rubber tiles underneath the play structures from 8 a.m. until dark Saturday, Aug. 2. At least 10 men are needed each day, along with other teens and adults who can prepare the hardware for putting the structure together and assist with other tasks.

Project coordinator Heidi Garza said a number of people had agreed to help today, but that “it was looking really slim on Sunday.” Anyone interested in helping can contact her at 928-6517 or heidig@exclusive.com.