Fundraisers are a frequent part of a community’s life. Most are for tragic causes, such as people who have fallen ill and can’t afford the myriad bills required for health care. In Windham, there have been many fundraisers in recent years, with the community seemingly willing to open wide their wallets for anyone with a legitimate need.
One of the most successful fundraisers has been for the Windham Primary School playground fund. The 22-year-old playground equipment, once new and shiny, is old and rusty and literally falling apart, needing periodic replacement when items break. About a year ago, parent Michelle Jordan and a committed committee began collecting money to replace the aging equipment, raising $15,000 in a matter of months. The fund is up to $33,000 and the group purchased a great set of equipment, which they installed two weekends ago with the help of parents.
On Monday, the new equipment was formally unveiled at a series of grand-opening ceremonies for various grade levels at the K-3 school. The kids obviously love the new equipment, and parents are happy their children can play safely on fun equipment that they had a hand in building.
While the committee is still raising money, with $50,000 as its ultimate goal, the vision expands beyond the one playground that is already installed. Since there are more than 800 students in the school, the committee plans to install a second playground area with different components next summer.
And beyond that, the committee has grander visions for the play area to the rear of the school. They hope to build a basketball court, an open multi-purpose grassy area, benches and a baseball field. The estimated cost of site work is $500,000, which would have to come from the school board.
With so much community support behind the playground overhaul, the committee’s work has been fabulously successful. Most impressive is the children’s support of the playground. The primary school kids raised a whopping $5,738.89 in April during their Pennies for the Playground contest. But now, even bigger decisions need to be made, and will need taxpayer support to come to fruition.
To save money, Jordan said the site work could be done in tandem with an overhaul of the bus drop-off and parking lot at the primary school, something the school system has identified as a need for years. It seems if the school goes ahead with the traffic-rerouting project, the playground site work should be done as well, due to the overwhelming community support so far.
It’s not just the school community’s support for the project, but the collateral benefit the new fields could have. Dozens of kids and parents packed the Windham Town Council chambers earlier this year clamoring for new fields in Windham. This project at the primary school could provide additional playing space for Windham lacrosse and PeeWee football, as well as a place for Parks and Recreation to host outdoor basketball games.
It is rare when a public project gets so much enthusiasm and community buy-in. Tax hikes are never enjoyable, but in this case, if work takes place in the front of the primary school to alleviate the traffic-flow problems, it makes sense to have those ground-moving equipment operators stay a little longer and work their magic on the back side of the school.
–John Balentine, managing editor
Send questions/comments to the editors.
