Group working to make Bellingham playground "accessible and inclusive" for all
BELLINGHAM - A group in Bellingham is raising money for a good cause: Making outdoor time accessible for Bellingham students with different abilities.
Hallie Whitman saw that the playground at Stall Brook Elementary School, where she is a special ed teacher, needed an upgrade. So she started the "Our PlayAbility" campaign and slowly but surely they are making progress.
"Every kiddo should be able to play with their friends the same way that their friends play," she said.
The playground at the school has been a challenge for those who have disabilities.
"In September of 2021 I had a student who was wheelchair-bound, and his favorite thing to do at recess was to go on our adaptive swing," Whitman said. "It was getting really difficult to get his wheelchair close enough to the swing for us to lift him out of his chair and onto the swing."
Stall Brook parent Manny Toscano said trying to get a wheelchair over woodchips was too difficult.
"We wanted to create something that's very flat, very safe, very transitional for these children to be able to get up there and use," he said.
The team put together a four-year plan to raise money, and their latest fundraising event was their second-annual "Touch-A-Truck," and the community showed up in full support.
"Once this is done, I don't want to stop," Whitman said. "I think that it's important and it should be more commonplace to have accessible and inclusive playgrounds. Not just for our kids, but for parents who need accessibility to be able to play with their kids."
The group is also getting help from the Doug Flutie foundation to promote their fundraising efforts.