Parents raise $450,000 for new Millarville playground

A new playground at Millarville Community School will become a reality late next month after a parent fundraising society received word last week that it was the recipient of a provincial grant. 

The $125,000 grant, as well as a final fundraising push, will allow the $450,000 project to proceed, said society president Ellisha Francis. 

“It feels absolutely amazing. I can’t even put it into words,” said Francis of getting the news the grant application had been successful. “It was a huge relief, like a weight lifted off your shoulders.” 

A series of grant applications and fundraisers began in January of last year to replace the school’s 30-year-old playground after parents were told the structure was so old it couldn’t be repaired. One final bottle drive is being held this week. 

Installation of the new playground is scheduled for April 25-29 and will require 40 volunteers per day. Francis said it’s not hard labour and special skills aren’t needed. Anyone 16 and up is welcome to volunteer. 

"We’ll accept any and all help. The playground supplier will be on site to guide all of us so it’s just a matter of having the bodies there to help us put it in the ground,” she said. 

Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to email [email protected]. 

Francis is looking forward to the reaction of students when they see their new playground for the first time. 

“I honestly can’t wait. Installation starts on Tuesday and Friday is a Pro-D Day, so they won’t see the playground until they come back on Monday morning,” she said. “I'll be there watching them get so excited. I can’t wait to see the excitement; that will be reward enough.” 

She said the prospect of raising almost half-a-million dollars often felt daunting, but parents kept plugging away to reach their goal. 

“At times you feel defeated or you can’t achieve it, but we kept pushing, kept filling out grant applications and running fundraisers, and our motto all along was that it’s for the children," she added. "To be where we are now is an amazing feeling.” 

Originally pegged at $420,000, the price of the playground, like much else these days, increased to $450,000, providing parents with incentive to get the project completed as soon as possible. 

“The cost of replacing a playground is just astronomical,” Francis said previously. “We're looking at almost half a million dollars and for such a small community, that’s a lot.” 

She said the existing playground, which acts as a community hub, is so old the parts are obsolete so it can’t be fixed. 

“When things break, they’re simply removed and we don’t want that for our kids,” Francis said.