Kirksville residents of all ages gathered at the YMCA April 18 for the ground breaking ceremony for the new inclusive playground. Construction on the playground began last week and, weather depending, is projected to end in early June.
Kirksville Kiwanis club member Becky Pike says the playground project came about after the club recieved a grant to put accessible swings at the Kirksville Primary School playground. Pike says YMCA Executive Director Sarah Riffer, and Deb Wohlers, Adair County Family Senate Bill 40 Developmental Disability Board executive director, thought an inclusive playground would be good for the community and visited with her about their idea.
Pike says she and several members of the disability community established the Northeast Missouri Inclusion Project to raise money for the playground. Pike says she and her colleagues Nan Davis and Terri Miller travelled to St. Louis to look at other inclusive playgrounds and choose what pieces of equipment to include in the NEMO playground. Pike says the playground will include spinning pieces, slides, an anti-static ground, accessible picnic tables and more.
She says there will be a wall surrounding the playground that will make the playground wheelchair accessible. “[The playground] is designed so anyone can find a place to play,” Pike says.
To read more about the inclusion playground breaking ground, be sure to pick up a copy of the April 28 Index on newsstands now or online here.