Frankfort playground heading overseas
Frankfort playground heading overseas
Playground equipment once used by children in Frankfort soon will be heading to a another country, where opportunities for play are harder to come by.
Playground equipment once heavily used by children in Frankfort soon will be heading to a another country, where opportunities for play are harder to come by.
Tim Clauson, a playground director with a charity group called Kids Around the World, which helps American organizations donate playground equipment for overseas deployment, said he witnessed the joy of children using a playground moved by his organization to a refugee camp in war-torn Iraq.
“It gives them a chance to be a kid again,” he said.
Kids Around the World worked with the Frankfort Park District in August, when volunteers disassembled a playground in Herit- age Knolls Park.
Gina Hassert, director of the Park District, said the playground was installed in 2001 and the district’s comprehensive plan showed the park was due for a replacement playground.
“Parts of the play structure decking were showing signs of wear and it is hard to get parts for playgrounds that are more than 10 years old,” she said.
Hassert said the useful life of a playground is usually between 15 and 20 years.
Clauson said volunteers will clean the playground equipment and make any needed repairs before sending the equipment to its new home.
He said it hasn’t yet been determined where the playground will be shipped.
The group last worked with the Frankfort Park District in 2012 when a playground from Indian Boundary Park was donated.
That playground was shipped to Ghana, and a volunteer who helped with the dismantling of the latest donation also is from Ghana.
“The park district commissioners are mindful of waste and an opportunity to promote play,” Hassert said. “The idea of allowing underdeveloped communities to have an opportunity to play supports the mission of the park district.”
She said officials had looked into donating the playgrounds to communities in the U.S. but found there were many legal obstacles.
Hassert said the old playground at Heritage Knolls included two small structures, one for children younger than 5 and one for children up to 12, aswell as six swings.
The new playground, she said, which had cost the district $95,800, also includes six swings, which were at the top of the request list from residents who attended park district meetings.
Hassert said the playground also includes slides, monkey bars and a singlechild spinning ride.
She said a sand volleyball court is being removed because there was no organized league at the park and because residents said itwas becoming a nuisance as area cats would use the sand as a litter box.
Hassert said a basketball or pickleball court may be installed in its place.
A shading element also may be added to the park, she said, as requested by residents.
Hassert said a number of trees at the park had been lost due to the emerald ash borer.
She said the playground at Heritage Knolls has moderate to heavy use from April through July when the younger siblings of girls playing in a softball league at the park use it.