Word travels quickly in the small fishing village of Port Washington, Wisconsin. So when Mardy McGarry wanted to build a playground for kids with special needs, she knew it wouldn't take long to create interest in the project. But she never expected that a third of the town people would join in it.
"A lot of learning comes through play," says McGarry, a special education teacher for 28 years. She'd seen the wood chips and sand of traditional playgrounds stop wheelchairs dead in their tracks.
When a piece of land became available, the city council agreed to choose a part for a playground.She asked classrooms of kids for their wish list. She also asked experts for help. And she brought on board her friend Sue Mayer, whose eight-year-old son, Sam, has a serious disease.
Her Kiwanis Club chapter came through with $ 7,000, and that's when the grassroots movement really got started. One woman gave $ 25,000 and had her company donate the same amount.There were silent auctions(拍卖) and T-shirt sales. The local Pieper Family Foundation offered to donate half of the remaining $170,000 balance if McGarry could raise the rest. The $ 450,000 covered materials, but the actual construction would cost an additional $ 900,000. Not a choice. But the community could build it.
On September 16, 2008, the first day of construction, they came. Two women heard about the project on the radio on the way to work and took the day off to help.Ten-year-olds sanded surfaces.
Today, Possibility Playground is one of the most popular destinations in Ozaukee County. There's a giant pirate ship, a rock-climbing wall, high and low rings, monkey bars, sandboxes, swings, slides, bridges and so on.
It's exactly what McGarry wanted. People used to ask why she wanted to build a playground just for children with disabilities. "They didn't get it. It's only when you build a playground for children with disabilities that you build one for all children," she said.
A. Soon smaller businesses were helping.
B. All children play shoulder to shoulder.
C. But her students were too often left out.
D. Everyone thought it was really a great wonder.
E. A couple in their 80s operated their own trucks.
F. McGarry started researching play equipment and contacting design firms.
G. They rolled up their sleeves and used their weekdays to bring her idea to life.
