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Greetings!
The Whittier Community Center is working on a project to bring an accessible playground to this neighborhood, and we hope that you will be a supporter. The following is some basic information about the project. Read on or use the links (above) to go to a specific section. You can also download a PowerPoint Presentation about the process or see the playground flyer. There are many ways to participate and we hope that you will want to become involved. If you have any questions, please call Kendall Andelin at (435) 753-9008.
Thanks!
Whittier Community Center
Project
Adventure Playground will be built on 20,000 square feet of land provided by the Whittier Community Center.
Open for community use at no charge, the playground will be a draw to more than the 1,600 people who visit the center every week; it will be available to families from all over Cache Valley and beyond. This one-of-a-kind project was designed with the help of local school children and includes a castle, pirate ship, tree house, music area, and much more. The playground will also be fully accessible to children with disabilities. Picnic tables, green space, and shady benches will create a park atmosphere the whole family can enjoy. Adventure Playground will be built in less than a week (Summer, 2009) entirely by volunteers as part of the Whittier Community Center's Centennial Celebrations.
Need
Play is a child's work. All children learn, grow, and develop through play; improving their physical, cognitive, and social skills. Nowhere is this more evident than the neighborhood playground. Children with special needs may benefit to a greater degree from playground activities, since their disabilities may have kept them from developing the social and physical skills often learned in informal play environments. These skills are important because they influence the extent to which children will be integrated socially and vocationally.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 11-13 percent of the 23,763 children in Cache Valley live with a disability. However, while there are approximately 3,000 children with disabilities living in the Cache Valley area, there is limited opportunity for them to enjoy the benefits of inclusive play with their peers. Adventure Playground contains a variety of equipment and opportunities specifically designed to provide the greatest possible diversity of children with sensory-rich play experiences with their peers, neighbors, siblings, and family, in an atmosphere without physical barriers to access and social barriers to inclusion. Families from all over Cache Valley will have the opportunity to visit an incredible playground where children of all abilities can enjoy shoulder-to-shoulder play.
The Whittier Center is an ideal location for such a facility. The nearest playground is several blocks away, and across a busy five-lane highway. We recently surveyed the neighborhood and learned that they are enthusiastic supporters of the project. With great parking and plenty of land beyond the playground to be used as a neighborhood park and picnic area, this play space will be a great destination for families to visit and will provide much-needed revitalization to a neglected neighborhood.
Accessibility
What comes to your mind when you think of an accessible playground? The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specifies that approximately 25% of play components be on an accessible route (wood fiber qualifies as an accessible surface). 
According to its standards a slide is considered accessible if you can get a wheelchair to the bottom of the stairs going up, and to the end of the slide, but you’re missing the best part. We don’t think that’s enough. Adventure Playground will be a large play environment that is shoulder-to-shoulder accessible for people of all abilities. A playground designer and accessibility expert has helped us design a super-structure that is 100% accessible for both ground-level and elevated components; that means complete access, even to the top of the castle. Very few playgrounds of this size and built to these standards exist in the country.
Imagine yourself in a wheelchair (or think of those who don't have to imagine it). In Adventure Playground you have access to all of the ground-level play components thanks to a poured-in-place rubber surfacing made from recycled tires. This includes accessible swings, monkey bars, rings, spring toys, interactive panels and games, musical instruments, and a sand digger. If you want to go higher you can take your chair up the ramps, past the truck, onto the pirate ship with its rain wheel and swinging deck, up to the tree house and vertical tunnel, across the suspension bridge, and to the top of the castle where there are transfer points for easy access to the slides. Along the way you find more interactive panels, games, climbers, and a phone system. Finally a playground that you can fully enjoy with all your friends.
Volunteerism
While the playground is a truly amazing structure, the biggest draw to this project is the community volunteerism that makes it happen. The park will be built entirely with volunteer labor over six days. People that have coordinated similar projects speak in awe about the number of volunteers (3,500+ in communities of similar size to Cache Valley), and the way that each of them takes pride and a sense of ownership in the project. Each leaves with a real appreciation for what volunteerism can do in a community. Vandalism tends to be reduced, maintenance improved, and the playgrounds become a family destination. They say that playgrounds of this quality are a draw to families from outside their cities, and that they have an area effect, improving the quality of the surrounding neighborhoods.
That said, we need your help to build this project. It doesn't matter if you've never picked up a hammer in your life; there are jobs for everyone, even children. To sign up for a shift visit the ‘Volunteer!’ link and fill out the form, or call Kendall at (435) 753-9008.
We are also looking for construction captains to direct teams throughout the week. If you are a construction captain, you will need to be there every day of the build. You can be skilled with power tools, or not; you will receive all the direction you need from Leathers & Associates' construction consultants. It's a very rewarding experience, so if you're interested, please call and sign up.
Organization
The Whittier Community Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Housed in the historic Whittier School (built 1908), the Whittier Center supports local civic, arts, educational, and non-profit organizations by providing space and program support. There are currently over 30 organizations maintaining space or holding regular meetings and classes at the Whittier Center. Here's a small sampling of these: Cache Valley School of Ballet, Multicultural Center, Sub for Santa, Aikido, Society of Friends, Society for Creative Anachronism, People First [recreation for young adults with intellectual disabilities], Inishfre Irish Dancers, Boys and Girls Club, and Cache Employment and Training Center. For a more comprehensive list, see ‘Whittier Tenants’. The Whittier Center also hosts a number of events throughout the year, including Art Attack [free art workshops for children and families; held bi-weekly in the summer], Vittles & Fiddles, the Renaissance Faire, a children's Halloween Carnival, a children's Christmas Party, and the reproduction of the historic Christmas Cantata, to name a few. Several of Cache County's non-profit organizations have found their feet here, and then expanded out of our facilities. Currently the Whittier Community Center sees as many as 1,600 visitors each week. The increased visibility and visitation provided by a playground of this quality will help us to expand our services to the community, launching us into our next 100 years of service.
Design
We are very excited about the design of this park. The following links will show you the hand-drawn schematic design of the playground done by L & A designer Dennis Wille after meeting with local children for design ideas; a bird's-eye view of the playground with the Whittier Center, parking, and park; a PowerPoint Presentation describing the process; and our Adventure Playground brochure.
For more information about the project, the process, and how you can become involved, follow the links at the top-left of each page.
View Entire Adventure Playground Schematic (PDF)
Adventure Playground PowerPoint Presentation
1/8-scale final playground drawings (pdf)