Seniors at Heritage Academy wore royal blue T-shirts Friday, hailing Patriot Park as a place “where every kid can be a kid.”
Joining a circle of animated children on the T-shirt was one child in a wheelchair and another using a walker. The students hope to turn the illustration into a reality with the construction of an “all-inclusive playground” at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.
Haley Salazar, whose son, Charles Thomas, is a senior at Heritage, fought back tears during the first senior meeting where the project was proposed.
Charles Thomas” older sister, Elysia, has Down Syndrome, and when she was 3 months old, Salazar found out her daughter also was blind.
“As a result of that, she is very, very developmentally delayed,” Salazar said Friday, during an assembly to kick off the senior class” leadership initiative project.
As she spread the good news to others, they also were overcome with emotion at the prospect of their children — challenged and able — playing together at the same playground, they also were overcome with emotion, Salazar said.
“”You mean I”m going to have a place where I can bring all three of my boys, and they can all play at one time?”” a coworker asked Salazar. “I told her, ”Yes you will.””
“Families with children with disabilities and special needs, they don”t want your sympathy. They don”t want your stares,” she continued. “But if they can have something that helps improve the quality of life for their child, they are eternally grateful.”
Every space on the playground will be wheelchair accessible, incorporating Braille and other elements to cater to different disabilities, said Chad Kingsbury, Bible class teacher at Heritage. Students also plan to make the walking track wheelchair friendly.
“This is an all-inclusive playground, which means there will be something for children with all types of disabilities,” said Heritage senior Lilla Flora, the daughter of Gray and Laurie Flora.
The new playground will replace the hospital”s current outdoor playground — a small area with a slide and climbing set and a few swings. With a $180,000 total price tag, the “boundary-less playground” is an ambitious goal. But the students have raised about $61,000 thus far, in pledges and donations. Baptist also is supporting the project financially. Students are confident they can raise the rest through corporate and individual donations.
“I believe that there”s enough people out there with good hearts that they would be willing to give,” said senior Steven McLaurin, son of Mickey and Debbie McLaurin.
Students are selling T-shirts, offering the chance to sponsor bricks and making presentations to potential sponsors like Paccar and Walmart.
“I”m really excited about it, and I look forward to one day bringing my kids to play on the playground,” said McKenzi Jones, daughter of Allyson and Scott Jones.
St. Jude Children Research Hospital and Heifer International also were being considered for this year”s service project.
“We chose a local one because we felt like it would be more beneficial to the community,” said Lilla.
“I think it”s cool that we”ve got high school seniors willing to give of themselves to help other kids,” Kingsbury said.
In Mississippi, another playground of this kind only exists in Oxford, and Baptist is happy to be chosen as site for the local one.
“We would be glad to see it,” said Bobby Alexander, plant manager for the hospital.
The walking track, he said, is heavily utilized, but with limited equipment, the playground isn”t used much.
Students hope to raise the money for the project by the end of January and complete the playground before they graduate in May. Play equipment is being ordered through Play Mart.
· Heritage Academy: 662-327-5272, www.heritagepatriots.com
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