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CONCORD It breaks Amanda Turney's heart to take her daughter, Maggie, to the playground.
“Bless her heart, she wants to go and watch her sisters,” Turney said of her oldest daughter, who has cerebral palsy. “That's just the way her heart is.
“But at the playground, there's nothing for her to do. At that point, it's so obvious to her and everyone around her that she's not participating.
“It's the most painful place I have to take my daughter,” Turney said. “It would just be great for us to take all the girls.”
The Concord Rotary Club is setting to out help Maggie and kids who want to go play.
In the biggest project in its 85-year history, the club – 120 members strong – is raising money to build the “Everybody Plays” playground at McGee Park.
Rotarians plan to add to existing equipment at the park off Cabarrus Avenue, according to club President J.C. McKenzie.
To accomplish that, Rotarians are in the process of raising $130,000.
Both J.W. McGee and Al McEachern, for whom the greenway is named, are members of the Concord Rotary Club.
“It kinda fit our club,” McKenzie said of the project. “This seemed like something that could touch the most people.”
Rotarian Debby Abernathy, who's heading up the project, agreed.
“It's a good way to give back to the community with something that will last for years to come,” she said.
McKenzie and Abernathy pointed out that the playground will also be accessible for disabled parents who want to bring their children.
The project has been in the works for several years, Abernathy noted.
Concord Rotarians approved the project in August. It's also been approved by the Concord City Council. The city will take over the playground at its completion.
Turney spoke to the club about the need for a playground for her daughter and other special-needs children. She's pleased that the club is seeking ideas from parents of special-needs children.
Turney has worked at a special-needs camp where children participate in such activities as rock climbing, archery and horseback riding. She said even small changes in a playground layout can benefit a majority of children.
With her own daughter, Turney said, “She hardly knows she has a disability, because there's nothing we haven't pushed her to do. We do avoid parks, though.”
The park, McKenzie concedes, is not an overwhelming need. “But I think everybody deserves this opportunity.”
At the moment, the club is raising money among its members. It also will seek corporate support. Rotarian Venetia Skahen, director of the Community Free Clinic in Concord, will be writing grants.
Rotarian Bill Hughes, a principal with Yates Chreitzburg Hughes Architects, is completing renderings.
The club hopes to have all the money in hand by spring and have at least some of the equipment in place by next fall.
It's an aggressive timetable, McKenzie admitted, but on the other hand, he said, Rotarians are used to getting things done.
The club is in the process of obtaining nonprofit status for this and future projects. All donations to the “Everybody Plays” playground are tax-deductible.
For more information about the project, call J.C. McKenzie at 704-786-8209.
Susan Shinn is a freelance writer.
