Updating Play Equipment at John Stanford School

Lucie Campbell and Greg Lewis wrote the following in the hope you can help them with a new playground at JSIS as part of the neighborhood matching fund process:

The south Wallyhood playground at JSIS serves 460 children every day and also is a popular playground for the surrounding neighborhood.

Community members and parents are kicking off a project to replace the nearly 20-year-old play equipment. Just for fun we wanted to share a few “old” photos from the playground – maybe you remember these days in Wallingford:

The equipment needing to be replaced was installed in 1997 and has supplied hours of fun to thousands of local children. But, it also has been re-welded several times over the years. Five years ago, a net climbing tower was added to the southwest area of the playground and has been a great addition…BUT the main equipment is ready to be replaced for the next generation of play. In the last 6 years the number of kids playing at JSIS playground has grown over 40% and this small playground needs more play space.

We are in final stages of applying for a grant from Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund / Large Projects Fund and hope to gather support to move the project forward. (Note: The Seattle School Budget has zero funding for playground updates at our local schools – these projects are 100% volunteer run and funded by grants and donations.)

Here’s an inspirational “glimpse” at what could be chosen to replace the old equipment:

As part of the playground planning, volunteers are working on ideas that include:

• Replacing the old play equipment to allow greater capacity and more diverse play activities.
• Making space safer and improving the flow of play by removing concrete walls & railings
• Adding landscaping & art elements to liven up this space that sits right next to I-5.

One thing that really strengthens the team’s grant application to the Dept of Neighborhoods is to show many names that support the project. In particular we want to include names of people who might have skills to lend to the project (landscape architects, construction experts, manual labor to landscape and install new equipment). We need professional help with the artistic elements and the concrete removal and work.

If you have skills to lend, time to volunteer, or ideas, contact Wallingford resident Greg Lewis or post here. Or, even easier, just add your name to this growing list of community members who want to help in various ways:  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B0B45ABAC2CA02-jsis1

Stay tuned for further updates.  The grant application is due next week!