By Carole Hawkins, Staff Writer
Stan Stapleton, a business banker for Bank of America, is more used to financing projects than he is building them.
In March he moved to the other side of the safety tape to help construct a playground that allows kids with disabilities to play alongside their peers.
“What it boils down to is, we’re just here to help the community,” said Stapleton, who is also chairman of the Nassau Builders Council. “We all live here, and this park will allow children of all abilities to play outdoors.”
About 20 Nassau builders and associates picked up shovels, wheelbarrows and drills in March to begin construction on Pirate Playground at Fernandina Beach’s Atlantic Recreation Center.
It’s a park that, when finished, will have play areas all children can enjoy, said Aaron Morgan of 8 Flags Playscapes, the non-profit behind the project.
The playground’s design is missing the typical mulched areas and the high borders encircling them – places wheel chairs can’t easily go. Instead surfaces will be level and made of brick and poured-in-place rubber.
Play areas will celebrate Fernandina’s heritage, with a shrimp boat for climbing, business facades for playing store, and pirate treasure buried in the sand area, waiting to be discovered.
A large bucket swing will have straps for children with limited motor control. A chin-up bar will reach low enough for children in wheelchairs.
A water table play area will lure children who have sight impairments. And chimes and bongo drums in the musical play area will soothe autistic children.
Ingrid Harding is one parent who is looking forward to the playground’s completion.
Her 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, suffers from Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to perform or control motor functions. The condition primarily affects girls. Most cannot walk, talk or use their hands.
“It’s difficult for her to play, to engage her with peers or even have a place where she would have anything that she’s be able to do,” Harding said.
Sarah loves to swing, but hasn’t used a park swing in four years. That’s because she needs a swing with wheelchair access that has a large seat and straps to hold her in place.
At her old home in New Jersey, a child from Sarah’s school once spent an hour talking to her and swinging her on such a swing.
“It was really neat,” Harding said. “It’s hard to explain to people whose children don’t have disabilities, for them to realize how lonely it is for our children.”
Morgan said he came up with the idea for Pirate Playground six years ago, after watching a TV show featuring a playground in Ohio where kids in wheelchairs were able to play alongside able-bodied children.
“A few days later I was at a playground with my daughter, who was three at the time. I also had a son on the way,” he said. “I thought — what would it be like if one of my children had a disability?”
Years of fundraisers and public outreach followed, and over that time Morgan’s dream became the community’s dream.
Eight Flags Playscapes raised close to the $250,000 in cash and in-kind donations, an amount that placed the group within striking distance of their budget.
This year the Nassau Builders Council chose Pirate Playground as its community service project.
“We felt they were so close,” said John Cotner, a Nassau architect and point person for the builders team. “They’ve really been working hard over the years. We though if we could give them $30,000 worth of labor, it would put them over the top.”
Fernandina firms signed on. Gillette & Associates performed project engineering; Manzie & Drake, the land surveying. RPM Wood Products and Fernandina Lumber supplied the wood at cost. Myers Tractor Service cleared trees and prepped the site.
Builders Donna Lynne and Clayton Buchanan offered to lead work teams, and companies provided the labor, each adopting a section of the park.
Cotner & Associates committed to the shrimp boat. Property Management Systems would lay out the sand area. Merrill Lynch and Bank of America offered to build a deck play area in the shape of Ft. Clinch
Stapleton said his team chose the Ft. Clinch project because it meant an experienced builder would lay out the site for them.
“So far our job has been to move dirt, shovel sand, and drive screws,” Stapleton said. “A bunch of bankers can put screws in boards.”
The contribution is not insignificant, though, Morgan said.
“We bought the materials, but without the professional labor, we would not be at the point where we are,” he said. “To clear the land - we could have spent $10,000 just on that.”
Harding said it was amazing to her that Morgan and others have worked for 5 years to bring about Pirate Playground, even without having special needs children of their own.
“It brings tears to my eyes to know that these people are looking out for us,” she said.
The builders’ teams will work on the Pirate Playground every weekend until finished. The playground is scheduled to open in May.