It was a beautiful autumn day to celebrate with Mayor George Brown, state Sen. John Yudichak, the Special Needs Playground Project Committee, the children and many others as the ribbon was officially cut, opening the much-anticipated Special Needs Playground.
The atmosphere was triumphant and welcoming, with music, clowns, food, first-responders, and of course, delighted children enjoying the facilities. Mayor Brown’s vision to build a transformative space for children with special needs become a beautiful new reality through collaboration and generosity from the AllOne Foundation, the Luzerne Foundation, Earth Conservancy and the Colleen Shea Foundation.
“What a powerful and wonderful group of community leaders who have dedicated their lives to ensure every child feels included in our community, every child feels empowered to learn and play, and every child feels inspired to dream,” Yudichak said.
And with mention of AllOne Foundation, Yudichak offered special thanks to Attorney John Moses, board chair of AllOne, among many other things. “Through his leadership at Highmark, the AllOne Foundation, St. Jude’s, and the law firm of Cozen O’Connor, John Moses has spent a lifetime teaching us the importance of giving back to the community you call home,” Yudichak said, before passing the microphone to Moses.
Moses offered his thanks to Yudichak and Brown. “I can tell you that in a lifetime, you’ll find a lot of people that have great ideas but you’ll only find a handful that have that uncommon combination of vision and passion. George Brown is one of those leaders,” he said. “For years, this was a special place in the heart of George Brown. Now it’s a special place in the heart of our community,” driving home the day of celebration, collaboration, and community.
In fact, Terrence Ostrowski, president & CEO of Earth Conservancy Inc., who donated $100,000 to the project, noted the laughter during his remarks. “The children’s laughter is what really makes it worth it,” he said.
Mayor George C. Brown said in all, between 165 donors, $591,764 was raised in total. He explained what the park consists of. “What you see behind me are 11 pieces of equipment that were designed for special needs and ADA compliance,” Brown said. “This is not the end of it,” he added. The park will still see another zip line added in as well as a specially-designed restroom facility and ADA compliant parking lot.
Picture Left to right: Attorney John Moses shaking hands with Mayor George Brown
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