Sunday, Mar. 20, 2011

Family leading charge for a better place for all to play

Like most 9-year-old girls, Danielle Lester loves spending a warm March day on the playground.

On a recent afternoon, Danielle navigated the All Children's Playground at Laurel Hills Park on Edwards Mill Road.

"I like the swings and the monkey bars," Danielle said. "But not the sand."

The sand covering the center of the playground is a mobility challenge for Danielle, who has cerebral palsy and often relies on a walker. But Danielle's parents are working hard to get rid of that sand and make the playground a welcoming place for their daughter and every child.

Darryl and Dionne Lester are front and center in the effort to rebuild and revamp the Laurel Hills playground in northwest Raleigh as the Sassafrass All Children's Playground.

The Lester family has teamed with the city of Raleigh and the Frankie Lemmon Foundation to raise the money to transform the play environment and make it compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

They hope a concert this afternoon will help them reach the goal. The concert is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Laurel Hills Park. The Sandbox Band will give a family-friendly performance.

They are dreaming of wooded areas with pathways wide enough for side-by-side wheelchairs, and new equipment integrated into the natural surroundings.

And though it's called an all children's playground, Dionne Lester wants everyone to know it is more than that.

"We don't want people to look at it as a special needs playground." Lester said. "It's for people with all kinds of abilities."

An accessible play space will make it easier for parents or grandparents with wheelchairs, walkers and other physical challenges to bring children to play.

Families have been gathering at this playground since a group of volunteers came together in 1991 to build it.

But things have changed in 20 years.

"A lot of it doesn't meet code anymore because of the Americans with Disabilities Act," said Shawsheen Baker, a landscape architect with the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department. "But that doesn't mean it isn't safe. It is maintained by the city."

While Danielle Lester makes her way in the sand by holding hands with new playground friends, her parents talked about what rebuilding the space will mean.

"This is the battle we want to fight for families behind us," Dionne Lester said.

"We want to inspire ordinary people to make extraordinary change."

Darryl Lester said his hopes really aren't that extraordinary.

"Just to sit down and watch her play and not worry about it," he said. "That would be great."

Big change at the playground comes with a big price tag. It is expensive to make the space compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Soft surfacing is costly, as is new playground equipment.

The fundraising goal is $2 million.

Raleigh is backing the project with $450,000. Another partner is the Frankie Lemmon Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Frankie Lemmon School and Developmental Center, founded in 1965 as the first place in Raleigh to provide preschool services for children with disabilities.

The Lesters have travelled the state studying all-inclusive playgrounds, and they know the plan for Sassafrass is special.

"It will definitely be an attraction," Dionne Lester said.

It may be several years before the new playground can be constructed, but the Lesters are in it for the long haul.

"We eat, live and breathe it every day," Dionne Lester said.

All that effort isn't going unnoticed by their daughter.

"They do it because they love me so much," Danielle said.