By Debbie Glover
St. Tammany (Louisiana) News
“We needed $20,000 for wheelchair surfacing, and that is precisely the amount we won on Chase’s Community Giving Facebook competition,” said LeAnne Cantrell of KidSense, a nonprofit that builds sensory integrated playgrounds for children with special needs and their inclusion classmates.
The competition awarded $20,000 grants to 200 charities, all 501.c.3 registered companies, across the nation. KidSense garnered 1,578 votes to rank it 157th in the nation.
Cantrell said all that is needed to finish the second playground, to be located at Lake Harbor Middle School and shared with both Magnolia Trace and Marigny Elementary Schools, is to coordinate the in-kind donations of construction, landscaping materials and services.
Cantrell said the first playground, located between Pontchartrain Elementary and Tchefuncte Middle Schools, is utilized by about 1700 students a day. A similar number is expected to use “KidSense 2” which will be completed this fall.
With the news of fully funding the second playground, Cantrell and KidSense will begin fundraising for the next project, announced at the Madisonville Town Council meeting earlier this month.
The third project will be built at the J. B. Lancaster Elementary School, still under construction near Madisonville. The third project is being spearheaded by Debbie and Skip Rinaldi of Above and Beyond Builders, also parents of a special needs child; and Shannon and Gary Laborde, all from Madisonville.
The Town Council overwhelmingly welcomed Cantrell and KidSense and applauded their efforts to help children with special needs and ADD/ADHD who benefit greatly from the playgrounds.
The group will be invited to participate in events in Madisonville to allow them to raise money for the playground.
“I appreciate them coming to talk about kids with autism—it’s a good thing they are doing,” said Madisonville Mayor Peter Gitz.
Councilman Timothy Bounds, who has a special need child, agreed. “I am elated to see this,” he said. “You can’t buy better resources than what we have ...We are very fortunate, very blessed.”
The playgrounds have won acclaim for their use of sensory integration, including buddy slides, climbing walls, Braille codes and even fossils and smooth stones embedded in walkways to ensure tactile participation.
The special playground equipment can be used by all children and in fact, special needs children usually use the equipment with their inclusion class of “normal” kids, guaranteeing a good time for all.
Although the playgrounds are sanctioned by the school board, the group does not receive any money from the school board in constructing the playgrounds, but rely upon donations and fundraisers to fund the specialized playgrounds.
Cantrell started the group in 2007 by building the first playground designed to increase focus and self-control. Everything in the playground is wheelchair accessible. Cantrell said, “We are building a better playground for all children, not just those with special needs.”
