Playground equipment drive grows

If the Mothers of Miracles and Iola Kiwanis members reach their goal, a comprehensive playground setting for kids with handicaps will unfold in Riverside Park in the spring.
Iola Rotarians learned about the campaign Thursday, and gave a $2,500 donation that pushed the total to nearly $90,000.
If all is done as planned, about $160,000 will need to be hand in by the end of January. Construction will occur in April.
The coupling of MOMs and Iola Kiwanis members was happenstance.
Mike Ford was at an Iola council meeting early this year and mentioned playground projects the club had done and that it wanted to do more, with the possibility of winning a $25,000 grant from Kiwanis International.
MOMs members were all ears, and noted they wanted to develop a portion of the park’s playground that would be compatible to children with special needs.
At Ford’s urging Kiwanians jumped aboard. They applied for the grant, with special needs playground equipment in mind. A nationwide Internet vote decided finalists for the grant, with Iola’s proposal ranking in the top 10.
“We beat out Miami-Dade County (Florida),” Ford beamed.
Next, a five-member panel decided the grant winner, with Iola emerging No. 1.
With $25,000 in hand, Ford said he thought the project was set. Then he realized that wasn’t the case.
“Little did I know $25,000 wouldn’t go far for commercial playground equipment,” he told Rotarians, which became evident when the MOMs group, Ford and his wife, Nancy, huddled to pick what they’d like from a catalog featuring equipment for special needs kids.
A single swing, he noted, cost $700; a wheelchair-accessible piece, $14,000.
What they settled on totaled $155,000, and rather than back away from a challenge, the decision was “go for it.”
Money quickly doubled when city council members agreed to match the Kiwanis grant and by the first of this week, the total had grown to more than $85,000 and then nearly $90,000 with the Rotary donation.
Two fundraisers, a food booth at Farm-City Days and a pancake feed last Sunday, added $5,200.
Labor will come from volunteers, with the only cost for a certified installer to “show us where to drill holes and put bolts,” Ford said.
Three grants, with possible payout of $65,000, are pending and will be decided before the end of the year.
“Since we have to order equipment by Feb. 15, we want to wind up fundraising by the end of January,” Ford said.
If the full amount is not raised, the project will be scaled back accordingly.

LESLEY SKAHAN gave Rotarians insight to why MOMs members are working so hard to make the playground project spring to life.
She and husband Matt’s son, Mason, 4, suffers from a rare genetic disorder, Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, that has him confined to a wheelchair. The disease is so rare that only about 250 cases are known worldwide.
In addition to not being able to walk, Mason can’t speak and has difficulty maintaining his grip on eating utensils or anything else.
Skahan said Mason is “a very happy little boy, and we can see the ‘wheels’ turning” in his mind. Therapy may give him some independent mobility and ability to speak.”
“He’s an inspiration,” along with other children with special needs, Skahan said of the fundraising and other efforts to give such children opportunities to have fun and live like other little kids.
The MOMs group was organized in 2011 so mothers could share concerns and triumphs and have time to themselves.
“We are there for each other,” Skahan said.
The group has evolved to more than mutual support, however, such as the playground project that has consumed them and many others, including Ford, who has worked tirelessly to make the dream in the park come true.
Skahan pointed out that many people have embraced the project.
A “pennies for the playground” fundraiser in local elementary schools touched more than students. Grandparents of one student, who live in Fort Scott, learned of the project and wrote a check for $2,000.
“There is a huge need for the playground equipment in Iola,” Skahan said.

AS THE fundraising deadline draws closer, Skahan said anyone willing to contribute, in any amount, could contact her at 620-363-4340 or Ford at 620-365-9494.
Also, she, Ford and other MOMs members are eager to talk to groups about the project.