By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
Three years of holding fundraisers, writing grant applications and leveraging contacts culminated on June 16 with the grand opening of the new $125,000 playground at Aberdeen Composite School.
During the official ribbon-cutting — which, appropriately enough, was done by the students themselves — Aberdeen Composite School principal Amy Orth reflected on the long journey to the installation of the new playground equipment, which she noted was truly a community effort.
New playground equipment had been needed, Orth noted, because two of their existing large structures no longer met safety standards.
“The bulk of recognition for seeing this project through must go to our Aberdeen School playground committee,” she said.
“We started planning these improvements in the spring of 2022 and it has been a ton of work, done largely by folks who dedicated their time and energy to writing letters, talking to friends and leveraging contacts, and spending long hours scouring grant applications.”
Orth noted that for every grant they received, there were probably 15 where volunteers spent many hours writing out applications only to be denied.
While reading out a list of sponsors for the project, Orth highlighted a few of the donors, such as the Aberdeen School fundraising committee that contributed $10,890 towards the project.
“Whatever you think of that number, I do want you to recognize that came through bake sales and coffee sales and just a million small, little things. That’s a huge number for the effort that went into that,” she said
Another major sponsor for the project was Shercom Industries Inc., which ended up donating just over $20,000.
Ben Cordeiro, regional vice president of sales for Shercom, noted their company had donated the equivalent of 1,000 used tires in rubber to create a safe flooring for the playground equipment.
“We’re really big on keeping our economy a circular economy, putting recycled waste back into value-added products like the surfacing you see here,” he said.
Orth also highlighted Access Communications, which provided a donation of $20,000 fairly early in the committee’s fundraising journey.
“At that point, it was really feeling like this might be a 10-year endeavour. And when Access Communications came through with that cheque, it suddenly felt like we were getting somewhere, and things were starting to happen,” Orth said.
Finally, Orth said the project would never have been possible without Aberdeen Parks and Recreation, which contributed $70,000 to the project.
Grace Wudrick, a member of the Aberdeen Parks and Recreation board, said they receive their funding from the Town and RM of Aberdeen, and they’ve managed to turn a lot of that money into benefiting local kids.
“I know that it’s a main focus of our board to do things for this community that are going to make it grow and just make it better for those that live here,” Wudrick said.
A full list of other companies and organizations that donated to the project were listed on a sign that now sits next to the new playground, broken down into bronze, silver and gold sponsors, as well as one honorary crusader.
Orth also listed the names of those who assisted in the actual installation of playground equipment on May 20, such as project manager and committee member Pam Hamoline, who co-ordinated the entire effort.
Orth said that 1st Stop Playgrounds, the company which provided the equipment, told her that they never saw a similar playground project go up more quickly or more smoothly.
In response, Orth said another parent had jokingly commented, “Well, they’ve obviously not been to Aberdeen before!”
Aberdeen Composite School principal Amy Orth talks about the new playground equipment during the ribbon-cutting on June 16.
A sign near the playground lists the various sponsors who contributed to the playground.