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Courtney’s Sandcastle Universally Accessible Playground
The Sandcastle is a universal playground which will be developed as a part of the Vista Hermosa/La Pata Community Park. It will serve both special need children and adults as well as able bodied children. The Parks Foundation, the City of San Clemente, and the Junior Women’s Club came together in 2004 to build the playground, originally planned for Steed Park.
The Sandcastle is named for Courtney Faye Smith who has been confined to a wheelchair because of a rare muscular degenerative disease – Spinal Muscular Atrophy. When Courtney and her friends visit local parks together, she is unable to participate because of her disabilities as are some 18,000 other children in Orange County with disabilities. Special recreational equipment will also be available to handicapped Marine veterans and other disabled adults.
The playground was designed by Richard Fisher who built many of the West’s premier universally accessible and traditional parks. The playground, along with baseball, soccer, and football fields, and an aquatic center, is undergoing a contractor bidding process prior to construction expected to begin in May 2010.
Some of the components planned for the playground include:
- A simulated 60-square foot castle, with sloping, wheelchair accessible ramps;
- A simulated pirate ship with a stern wheel and talking tubes;
- An elevated bowl that a child can approach in a wheelchair or on foot to interact with water and sand;
- A sensory garden with aromatic plants, and bushes and plants designed as animals;
- A musical pathway, producing auditory stimuli
Support Courtney’s Sandcastle
An exciting “Paint a Tile” fundraiser was recently launched. Sponsoring organizations and individuals can support Courtney’s Sandcastle by purchasing personalized colorful, glazed tiles. These tiles will be placed on a special wall within the playground and serve as a timeless reminder of our faithful community. Following your $100 (per tile) tax-deductible donation, you will receive a voucher that can be taken to Fired Up of San Clemente to design your own tiles or choose from one of the design templates (see below).
Donations can also be made by sponsoring one of the many special play equipment, swings, picnic tables, the sensory garden, and other playground features. If you’d like to learn more about these sponsorship opportunities, log onto www.courtneyssandcastle.com, or contact us at info@courtneyssandcastle.com. If you have questions, call the SCBPR Foundation office at (949) 276-8866.
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