Rotary Club hopes to expand playground at Sedgwick County Park

A local group hopes to expand a westside playground designed for children with disabilities.

The Sunrise Rotary Club of West Sedgwick County wants to enhance and expand the Boundless playscape at Sedgwick County Park.

They want to raise money to equip the accessible playground with more climbing rock areas, more shaded seating areas and new sound play equipment.

“Who is served by an inclusive playscape? Everybody,” said Rita Linnens, chairwoman for Friends of the Boundless playscape at Sedgwick County Park. “We are committed to securing the future of this playscape.”

“If you are a child with a disability or a parent with a disability, you can be king of the mountain,” Linnens said.

They’re also hoping to add a maze, rubber track and accessible merry-go-round. The rotary club has pushed for expansions before but approached the county after a recent survey.

“A lot of the new ideas that we have are just lessons learned, feedback that we’ve had from a lot of folks,” said Joel Rodell, the rotary club’s president.

They’re hoping to start “Play It Forward,” a fundraising and public awareness campaign for the expansions, with a Sept. 30 launch event. Linnens said it will be a three-year, $1 million campaign.

Linnens asked the county at Monday’s staff meeting to help with grant-writing assistance and construction-ready drawings as well as a county budget line-item for the Boundless playscape totaling between $5,000 and $10,000. They also asked the county to buy a piece of equipment for the playground to be announced Sept. 30.

Facilities director Steve Claassen said the county could likely use special parks and recreation funds for the expansion. He added that county staff would hope to craft the agreement by the commissioners’ Aug. 24 meeting.

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Rotary Club hopes to expand playground at Sedgwick County Park."