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About Us |
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| About Kids' Park In simple terms, Kids' Park Lafayette is a playground, but it is not just ANY playground. It was designed so that kids of all abilities, including those in wheelchairs and with other mobility issues, can play together. |
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| With the inclusion of a Sensory Botanical Garden, the park is a universally-accessible, multi-generational recreational facility, built by the community. It has become a place for children and adults of all abilities to literally “grow together”. |
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Take a Tour!
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On September 7, 2002, an army of 560 community volunteers gathered together to build Phase I, a large, pre-manufactured play structure specifically designed with elevated ramps for wheelchair users, and games at wheelchair height. For the first time at Lafayette Elementary, kindergarten and preschool children with mobility issues were able to interact and play unassisted with their able-bodied peers! Three years later, on September 24, 2005, a second Community Build Day was held to lay the groundwork for refurbishing the 1st / 2nd grade playground. Volunteers again built a wheelchair-inclusive play structure specifically designed to include wheelchair-users in upper-body development exercises critical for that age group.
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| Work on the Phase II park continues. Future plans for adding state-of-the-art accessible motion equipment, climbing sculptures, and musical instruments. In addition to the playground, a Sensory Botanical Garden has been built to not only provide hands-on outdoor education for the kids at Lafayette Elementary, but also to provide a place for gardening and education opportunities not previously available to seniors and disabled persons within the community. Click here to see Site Maps of the playground and botanical garden, as well as community maps and driving directions to the park. Check out our latest News to see what we've accomplished so far! Then, if you'd like to volunteer, go to the Volunteer page to see a list of current opportunities, or to register. Since we believe that our responsibility to the disabled community does not end at building the physical location, Kids' Park also sponsors projects designed to promote diversity and acceptance. |
| One of our projects is an Art and Literacy project involving a developmentally disabled sculptor, Alonzo Clemons. Classified as a Prodigious Savant, Mr. Clemons will be providing a sculpture for the Literacy Garden area of the botanical garden. A creative writing contest for Lafayette-area students was held centering on animals in his repertoire, with nationally-recognized poet Jack Collom leading workshops for the students. |
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| As an all-volunteer organization, Kids' Park Lafayette is proud to be the recipient of contributions from various sources including local organizations and grants. Please contact us for further information |
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About Us