Maine
An Aroostook community will be the only small town in Maine with an inclusive playground
STOCKHOLM, Maine — One among Aroostook County’s tiniest cities will change into the primary small group in Maine to create a playground designed to incorporate kids with bodily and developmental disabilities.
Stockholm had a inhabitants of 250 folks as of 2020, inserting it among the many smallest cities in Maine. However with an inflow of households in the course of the pandemic, Stockholm residents need to give these kids one thing that the city has not had in additional than a decade: a playground. And they’re making it one that may welcome kids of all talents.
The a whole bunch of public playgrounds in cities and cities throughout the state are constructed with normal tools that can be utilized by many of the inhabitants, however is just not pleasant to kids with disabilities.
Maine’s solely two different inclusive playgrounds are within the state’s two largest cities: the Gerald E. Talbot Neighborhood College in Portland and Jude’s Place at Marcotte Park in Lewiston.
Stockholm’s new playground, anticipated to be put in subsequent summer time, will embrace two wheelchair ramps in order that kids and adults with mobility limitations can entry the tools. Swings will likely be compliant with the People with Disabilities Act and designed for kids with bodily challenges.
There will even be fashionable sensory-based toys and tools that may profit kids who’ve Down Syndrome or these on the Autism spectrum.
The city has not had a playground since its elementary college closed in 2008, stated Lindsey Theriault, chairperson of the brand new recreation committee. That truth has prompted group members to lift funds for the playground and spend money on new leisure alternatives.
In 2021, RSU 39 — the varsity district serving Caribou and Stockholm — noticed an unprecedented spike in enrollment when 84 youngsters moved in from different in-state faculties and 26 from out of state. Because the pandemic stretched on, extra households sought out rural cities as safer, extra welcoming locations to lift their kids.
However with Stockholm positioned practically 20 miles north of Caribou Neighborhood College, the city’s kids should journey farther throughout college holidays in the event that they want to use the varsity’s playground or benefit from town’s leisure packages.
That’s why Stockholm residents have made it their mission to supply these alternatives to their very own kids.
“Plenty of folks with youngsters are shifting to Stockholm, together with those that grew up right here. Persons are seeing what a good looking little gem we will provide,” Theriault stated.
By constructing a brand new and inclusive playground, the city hopes to draw extra households, together with mother and father whose kids have disabilities.
Since forming its first recreation committee in 2020, Stockholm has raised $110,000 of its $200,000 objective to buy and set up the playground tools. Most of these funds have come from donations given by present and former city residents. The committee just lately snagged a $10,000 grant from the Maine Neighborhood Basis.
After the playground is put in, the committee will swap its focus to creating seasonal leisure packages for kids and adults. Although Stockholm’s group middle has a weight room and gymnasium for residents, the city has by no means had a recreation division.
With the brand new playground being near the city’s 5-mile path system, the committee hopes to create packages round snowshoeing, nature walks, biking and different out of doors actions. They will even make the most of the group middle for normal indoor programming.
“The group is investing in the way forward for our kids and in one thing that can profit all of us,” stated Theriault, who can be an RSU 39 college board member.
“We need to make our group middle really a ‘group’ middle,” she stated.