Playground Project

5/20/18 Project Update:

The past month has been full of activity. We continued fundraising and reaching out to community businesses and residents within the Forest Avenue district and received support from many of them. In addition, we found out that we received a grant for $5,000 from Lowe's and a large donation from the Robert Lloyd Corkin Foundation through The Entwistle Company that brought us up and over our fundraising goal. The support we received was overwhelming! We are so thankful for the support from everyone.

Now that our fundraising mission is complete, we are able to focus all of our efforts on the refinement of plans. We have been in contact with Hudson Recreation, Forest Avenue staff and Hudson Public Schools administration

and facilities departments. Their feedback has necessitated a number of revisions to the plans and those revisions have been incorporated into a new plan that we received this weekend. We'll be working to finalize this plan over the coming weeks and will have the students vote on the colors this week.

Once the equipment and colors are selected, a final plan will be drafted up and the order will be placed for the equipment. Once the order is placed, we'll work to firm up construction dates and details. The goal is to construct this new playground the week before school starts back up, during CHAPS shutdown week, to minimize disruption to all. Once construction dates are nailed down, work will begin to secure volunteers to help fill shifts during the community build days. We'll need many hands to help out during the community build portion of the project. Volunteer opportunities include (but are not limited to): assistance with assembly of the playground, spreading wood chips, feeding volunteers, public relations, photography, etc. If you're interested in helping out in any way as the project progresses, please email Sasha at sashalwood@gmail.com.

4/25/18 Project Update:

We’ve continued work behind the scenes to keep this project moving along. We’ve selected a vendor and are moving forward with that vendor to refine our plan. We’ve received input from teachers and are working with the school nurse, physical therapist, and some other special educators to be sure the plan meets the needs of all students within the school. We’ll continue to refine the plan based on their input.

Also under consideration is the relocation of the playground to the area directly between the driveway behind the gym and the basketball courts. This relocation would allow for more frequent use of the playground and make it more accessible to all! Since the current playground is so far back from the school, it is occasionally inaccessible to students when the grass is too wet or muddy to walk there. With the currently proposed location, children would be able to walk from the pavement directly into the play area, which makes it more accessible to all users.

We have continued our fundraising efforts and have already reached out to over 100 local businesses for support. We’ve continued applying for grants that are applicable to us. In addition, in the past week, we have begun reaching out to the greater Forest Avenue community, not just the school families. We’re especially grateful to all of those businesses and residents who have supported our project already. When combined with the great work done by the Forest Avenue students raising funds through the Glow Run, we’re up over $55,000! We have about $25,000 to go.

In order to make donating easier, we’ve also added an online payment option.

https://www.mightycause.com/story/Playforest

We invite you to join our exciting endeavor to create a

safe and fun environment for the children of Hudson! We are extremely grateful for your consideration and potential contribution!

Monday 4/2/18 Join us as we review the five playground plans and teacher feedback on those plans. We're going to narrow down the field to select one or two

companies to continue working with to develop a revised plan that meets the needs of all users. We'll also be discussing fundraising progress and timeline.

**All meetings are held in the Forest Avenue library at 6:30 pm unless otherwise noted

3/26/18 Project Update: We've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes this winter. We've now got plans from 5 vendors that we're in the process of reviewing. We'll be sharing with teachers next week and should be ready to share them with any interested parents the following week. See above for info about an upcoming playground committee meeting if that's something that interests you.