By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
While community volunteers will come together this weekend to help put together a new playground at Elden Elementary School, another playground build in the Baldwinsville Central School District is on the horizon. Volunteers are needed to help build a new playground at McNamara Elementary School on Aug. 2, 3 and 4.
“The playground that we currently have is about 14 years old and it’s on its last legs,” said Joel Lorenzo, project leader for the McNamara PTA.
Lorenzo has two children currently at McNamara, and his youngest will start kindergarten in 2020.
“I’ll be at McNamara for a while,” he said.
Having the community come together to build the playground is a “huge deal” in terms of savings, Lorenzo said.
“It’s such a huge expense if we were to have the company come in and build it for us. It saves us about $50,000,” he said.
The new playground will be geared toward kids between the ages of 5 and 12. Among its features are a climbing wall and new monkey bars.
“This playground is going to have a lot more variety. It’ll be more challenging of a playground, which is going to add on to what we currently have,” Lorenzo said. “Right now, McNamara has over 500 kids enrolled and the playground can’t accommodate that many kids. It’ll give them more space.”
Thanks to grant money and funding from the Baldwinsville Central School District, the financing for new playgrounds has largely been taken care of. Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli secured a $125,000 grant and former State Sen. John DeFrancisco secured $55,000. The remaining funding — about $75,000 to $80,000 per playground — is budgeted in the district’s 2017-18 and 2018-19 general fund.
“This thing has been two or three years in the making,” Lorenzo said. “It was going to be a big effort to get all the funds together. Thankfully, the Baldwinsville school district came through for us and provided the funds for us … It would have been a great burden for us.”
Lorenzo said he will be helping out at Elden this weekend, and he is hoping the community will return the favor and join him at McNamara in August.
“As of right now, we have 109 volunteers signed up,” he said.
McNamara’s build will be staffed by three crews: construction, hospitality and supervisory.
“We’re still looking for additional sponsors, mostly for the hospitality aspect,” Lorenzo said.
Unlike at Elden’s build, there will not be childcare provided for McNamara playground volunteers.
“You really want to have the kids away from a construction area,” Lorenzo said. “I know my kids — they like to run around and run free.”
Local businesses, such as Construction Associates of Baldwinsville and Herc Rentals of Liverpool, have reached out to offer a hand.
“Construction Associates are coming out to aid us in the construction part. [Herc Rentals] are providing all our digging equipment and digging all the holes,” Lorenzo said.
Camping World of Syracuse is sending a crew of volunteers.
“They’re sending us 24 employees to help us with the build,” Lorenzo said. “They called me out of the blue and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s fantastic.’”
Lorenzo said he hasn’t had to reach out for help because many in the community have readily offered their support.
“Most of this has been people coming to us. There’s been so much assistance coming towards us that we haven’t even had to come out and ask,” he said. “That’s why we moved to B’ville. It’s such a tight-knit community. It’s just a wonderful place to be.”
If you go
What: McNamara Elementary School playground build
When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2, 3 and 4
Where: McNamara ES, 7344 O’Brien Road, Baldwinsville
Info: Volunteers are needed for the construction team, hospitality team and supervisory team. Visit facebook.com/events/2029142460728065 or contact [email protected] for more information.
