A gift for school before Christmas
Fort Yuma Rotary Club builds new playground for O.C. Johnson students
Students at O.C. Johnson got an early Christmas present.
While the children at the school on Avenue A might have thought the gift was from Santa Claus, their new playground was actually the work of elves, er, members, of the Fort Yuma Rotary Club.
Every year, Rotary Clubs all over the U.S. (and the world) raise funds for a service project, said Kortnee Garcia, the immediate past president of the Fort Yuma Rotary. This year, the club decided to build another playground as its service project.
Garcia explained Rotary Clubs are part of an international service organization (Rotary International) working as Good Samaritans in their communities. Local clubs apply for matching funds from RI.
“The fundraising we do on a local level funds the matching grant we get from Rotary International, and we get community donations on top of that,” Garcia explained. “Then that gives us enough money to purchase the playground equipment and do the whole rebuild.”
O.C. Johnson recently became a community school through the efforts of Yuma’s First Things First Council and other community partners, Sheldahl noted, and one of the requirements for early childhood facilities was a play area.
“The playground completes the early childhood facility for our community school,” he said. “We are very grateful to Fort Yuma Rotary and Dan Tortolano, who coordinated the project.”
In addition to the traditional swings, the playground also includes a play structure, a music wall, a mud kitchen and climbing tires, Logan said.
“It is like our own little Jaguar amusement park,” the school’s principal said, referencing OCJ’s mascot. “Not only is it wonderful for the kiddos, but it is a playground that helps students learn.”