Let them all play

RVC groups want to build playground for special-needs children in village

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Two Rockville Centre organizations have initiated an effort to construct a special-needs-accessible playground. The Lions Club and the Rockville Centre Little League presented their proposal at the Oct. 6 Village Board of Trustees meeting.

In such a specialized playground, disabled children can play with their siblings and friends without being isolated or singled out, explained Tom Bucaria, the Little League’s president and the founder of the Challenger Division for disabled children. The purpose, he said, is “to create a state-of-the-art facility where our children can be kids, [and] feel like everyone else in the company of their friends, family and fellow residents.”

Bucaria said that the idea originated at the Lions Club’s Dinner in the Dark last May, and he approached Mayor Francis X. Murray, who agreed that it was a wonderful idea. They thought of the same spot for the playground: the handball and basketball courts at Sunrise Highway and Forest Avenue, next to Hickey Field.

Robin Webb, of the Lions Club, said that what is now a grassy area would become a playground for children ages 2 to 5, while the handball court would be converted into a playground for 6- to 12-year-olds, and the basketball court would become a multi-functional sports court, used for soccer, hockey, basketball, volleyball, tennis or badminton.

Building a park and installing equipment would cost at least $600,000, according to Bucaria. The Lions Club hopes to raise the money through grants and donations — $1 million in all, so there would be funds left over for future maintenance and repairs. “We have tentatively thought to call the program ‘Thanks a Million,’” Bucaria said. “This isn’t cheap.”

“Our own mayor has offered to be our point person for corporate, individual and governmental grants,” Bucaria added. “Which will give tremendous gravitas to this whole thing.”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Mayor Murray said at the board meeting. “I think we’re all on board with it.”

Kathleen Murray, the village’s deputy administrator for planning and strategic initiatives, has agreed to help write grant applications.

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