A handicap accessible playground at Northside Park moved a step closer to reality last week after a state agency awarded a $65,000 matching grant to the county to help fund construction.
The Board of Directors of the Pearl River Basin Development District approved the grant for the proposed playground Thursday in a unanimous decision.
A handicap accessible Imagination Fun Station has been a dream of Patricia Nowell Burton and the organization she founded for handicapped children in Neshoba County.
Under the terms of the grant, $65,000 in additional matching funds and/or in-kind services would have to be raised.
What's more, the grant also requires the project to be completed by Sept. 30, 2010, said David Vowell, chairman of the Philadelphia, Neshoba County Park Commission.
The Pearl River Basin Development District is an independent state agency serving 11 member counties, including Neshoba, which are located along the Pearl River and its tributaries.
James Murphy and Roy White represent Neshoba County on the board.
The Philadelphia Mayor and Board of Aldermen contributed $5,000 to the playground project during its meeting last week at the request of Cheryl Smith, the great-grandmother of Jordan Turk, a five-year-old who was born with spastic dysplasia cerebral palsy.
Smith told the city board that Jordan's condition limits his ability to walk without the help of braces and rollers.
At Burton's urging, a committee comprised of school teachers and administrators, parents, business leaders and citizens was formed to raise $100,000 for the project.
About $35,000 was raised by the committee, officials said.
The new playground would connect to Imagination Fun Station at Northside Park and include such things as handicap accessible slides, interactive wall games, therapeutic hand swings, play fire trucks and swing sets.
Smith told aldermen last week that her great-grandson and other children like him could not play at Imagination Fun Station because it is not handicap accessible.
"Jordan can't get his walker through there," she said.
While her great-grandson will never run a base or play tennis at Northside Park, Smith said he and other handicapped children deserved a place to play.
"Right now, he can't even swing at any of the parks," Smith said. "I am working as hard as I can to raise money for the playground. We not only need it for Jordan but for other children, too.
"You can get a busload of children from the first grade and take them out to the park and they can play all day. You can't do that with disabled children. They need to be able to take a field trip to the park, too."
For nearly a decade, Burton has been calling on community leaders and impressing upon them the need for a handicapped accessible playground at Northside Park.
Burton, who was born with cerebral palsy, has worked to help Neshoba County's disabled children through The Neshoba County, Philadelphia and Choctaw Disabled Children's Foundation.
Her organization estimates that there are about 800 children in Neshoba County who would benefit from making the playground handicap accessible.
White, who is a Ward 2 alderman, voiced support for the project at last week's city board meeting.
"We've got to come up with that money," White said. "I think we need to address it."
White made the motion for the city to contribute $5,000 to the project, which gained unanimous support for the mayor and aldermen.
"We want to do our part to support this project," Mayor James Young said.
Smith made a similar request to the Board of Supervisors last week who took it under advisement.
An account has been established for the new playground and checks payable to the Disabled Children's Foundation/Handicapped Playground Project should be mailed to The Citizens Bank, P.O. Box 209, Philadelphia, MS 39350.
Donations are tax deductible.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Mary Guerin
What government office or dept. matched the funds for the accessible playground. I am trying to do the same for my son. Please help me get the information. It is hard to find donations, for such a big project in a small town. We are in Wisconsin
