Red Bank families will have a new place for their children to play when White Oak United Methodist Church officially opens its new playground Aug. 19.
Gail Hindman, an outreach team leader at the church, helped lead the grant writing effort to fund the upgrade. The church's old playground was a safety hazard and they couldn't allow children to play on it for fear of injury, she said.
"Our members brought this up as a definite need," said Hindman. "Our kids couldn't use it and the community couldn't use it."
Despite the playground being on church property, it will be open for anyone in the community to use. There could be restrictions in the future depending on the church's insurance for the playground, but Hindman said that has yet to be determined.
Grand Opening
White Oak Methodist is hosting a grand opening for the new playground Saturday, Aug. 19 from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Church member Gail Hindman said there will be a carnival atmosphere with games, food and music for everyone in attendance. The community is invited to come, celebrate and have a good time.
Before the new playground could be constructed, the old one needed to be torn down. The old playground was a safety hazard and was completely unusable, said Gail Hindman, a church member who secured the grant for the new playground. (Contributed photo)Additionally, White Oak has a number of partners and nonprofit organizations whom they let use their space for their own services, such as grief or family counseling services. The playground will also provide families coming in for those services with another outlet for their children while they receive the help they need, Hindman said.
She noted that the playground is completely handicap accessible. The church emphasized the importance of ensuring all the equipment installed was inclusive, she said. Ramps rather than stairs ensure children with limited mobility can use the equipment, and new fencing around the playground ensures children will stay safe.
"We wanted to make sure everyone could use it," she said.
The grants Hindman worked on were all local. The church was awarded funds from the Schillhahn-Huskey Foundation and the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, which when combined, covered the full $31,000 cost for the playground and its six-week construction period. Hindman said she was told by people how it was often difficult for individual churches to secure grant funding, but she wrote out the grant requests anyway.
"My goal was not to ask our congregation for a dime, but I knew that kind of funding could take us a long time," Hindman said. "We're grateful to have received those grants."
White Oak UMC is located at 2232 Lyndon Ave.