In 2013 when Sutter Park PTA formed, a group of staff, therapists and parents identified a need for an inclusive playground to better service the variety of needs for our student population.
Sutter Park Preschool serves as the Worthington School District’s Early Childhood Intervention Program with a population of approximately 50% children with special needs and 50% children that serve as peer role models.
Scouting multiple partners, MidStates Recreation (formerly PlayWorld Midstates) was selected based on not only their specialization with accessible equipment for our young aged students, but personal experience with children that have disabilities.
Fast forward to 2018. The PTA was more established and ready to truly kick off aggressive fundraising.
A few notable components to the fundraising efforts:
Family Lemonade Stands and Bake Sales – we raised over $700 each time we did this!
We entered FCBank’s Fantastic Charities summer contest and reminded followers to vote every day for over two months. We won that contest, earning our largest donation at the time, of $3,500!
We held two spring t-shirt fundraisers with catchy quotes on the front.
In spring 2019, we collaborated with the Worthington City School District and Sutter Park Preschool to completely fund the rest of the project!
Ground Breaking Ceremony & Celebration
In June, 2019 we broke ground on our dream playground!
Please see press release here: Sutter Park Preschool to Break Ground on Inclusive Playground, dated 6/11/19
To read the full story and see photos, visit: https://sutterparkpta.org/possibilityplayground/
