Town of Clayton recently issued the following announcement.
Join Us as We Break Ground for a New Playground Oct. 12th!
Every child deserves a chance to play! And that’s why the Town of Clayton is proud to be partnering with the community to build a playground where children and their guardians of ALL abilities can play together – Harmony Playground.
Don’t miss the official groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, October 12 at 10am, with special sponsors: the Woman’s Club of Clayton and Clayton Civitan! Muddy the Mudcat will be joining us at East Clayton Community Park too!
There are 300,000 people living within 20 miles of this future playground and estimates show that means there are about 4,000 children with disabilities…4,000 children who can’t play at most typical playgrounds….4,000 children who will soon have that chance to play.
We’re moving closer and closer to making this unique, destination playground a reality. Children could be laughing, smiling and making friendships on this playground by the fall of 2020!
The plans and designs for Harmony Playground have been updated and bids are out now for construction. As of September 2019, the Clayton Community Recreational Foundation has raised more than $700,000.
Check out the latest update presented to Town Council by Clayton Community Recreational Foundation leader, Dean Penny, who’s family personally donated $75,000 to the project.
Pushing this effort closer to the finish line are some incredible donations and grants!
Earlier this year, the Johnston County Commissioners pledged $100,000 to the playground in their 2019-2020 budget.
The Town of Clayton received a very competitive Connect NC Parks & Recreation Trust Fund grant for $89,810.
Clayton won a GameTime grant, bringing in $55-60,000 in savings from this playground equipment manufacturing.
The North Carolina State University Park Scholars Class of 2019 not only designed and built numerous musical pieces for the playground, but they raised an additional $7,000 on top of that for the park. Studies show audible and tactile elements that kids can interact with, especially visually-impaired.
Local industry giants like Caterpillar, the naming sponsor, as well as Novo Nordisk and Northeast Foods, pledged support very early on and remain committed to seeing this project through.
The Town of Clayton is providing the land for the playground and will be responsible for maintaining it, including adding expanded parking and updated restrooms through the town budget and an upcoming parks bond being brought to voters on Nov. 5th.
The weekend after the ground-breaking, the Clayton Community Recreational Foundation is sponsoring a golf tournament and hosting an inspirational gala. Clayton native and Major League Baseball pitcher Chris Archer will be honored at the gala and the keynote speaker is Lauren Potter from the hit show Glee. If you can’t make those events, the public can also buy a brick so their name will be a permanent part of the playground, buy a T-shirt to show their support, or simply donate.
Finding ways to include children of ALL abilities and teaching typically able-bodied children how to interact with these exceptional children is SO important in building a better community. Thank you to all of the moms, families, community volunteers and businesses and others who have supported this dream – let’s join them to make it a reality! Head to HarmonyPlayground.org and “like” Harmony Playground Presented by Caterpillar at ECCP to find out more!
Original source: https://www.townofclaytonnc.org/clayton-news.aspx?39e569c2f56e4f87a71f789fd25ecf2fblogPostId=b9f7ec3c21534d20bfaa666d13edfdcc#BlogContent
