Ramsay's New Inclusive Playground

We have been awarded up to $25 000 from Parks Foundation Calgary's Building Communities Grant!!! It was just over 2 years ago that a FB ad for this grant started the Jefferies Park playground equipment upgrade project. The project has evolved into a much larger (and at times overwhelming) endeavor of building a new playground in a new location. Parks Foundation Calgary has been nothing but supportive and helpful thoughout this journey. Calgary is fortunate to have such a fantastic group to help with community building!

**July 25, 2020 Update - These recognition pieces are no longer being offered. See July 25, 2020 post for more information.** We're excited to share the details of how your support of our project can be recognized on a bench, flagstone or retaining wall stone! These are great ways to leave your mark or to honour a loved one. You can also go in with family and/or friends and pool your donations to be recognized on one of the pieces. Details in the photo. Email teresa(at)ramsaycalgary.ca if you have any questions. We are ~80% to our fundraising goal and have ~$100 000 left to go.

If you didn't make it out to #ParksFest on Sept 21, here's the highlights reel!

Parksfest is tomorrow! Come by and say hi between 1-3PM and vote for our project and 2 other projects so that we have a shot for more project funding! Voting must be done in-person and everyone aged 5 and up can vote. It's a free event - the "tickets" are to help predict how many people will show up. https://www.facebook.com/events/2082996925139998/?notif_t=event_calendar_create¬if_id=1566495293137615

ParksFest is in 4 days!!! Here's a clip of Sheila Taylor, CEO of the Parks Foundation, talking about the event. https://globalnews.ca//celebrating-calgarys-parks-with-par

Parksfest is this Saturday! Come by and say hi between 1-3PM and vote for our project and 2 other projects so that we have a shot for more project funding! Voting must be done in-person and everyone aged 5 and up can vote. It's a free event - the "tickets" are to help predict how many people will show up. https://www.facebook.com/events/2082996925139998/?notif_t=event_calendar_create¬if_id=1566495293137615

I've been slacking with updates! Here are a few updates about the project: -Turns out we got CFEP!!! But they didnt tell us when the cheque would be coming and we havent been able to get any info about when the cheque might come. So we think we have $125 000 coming from CFEP though well feel much better about it when we actually have the cheque in hand.... -It will come as no surprise that a Fall 2019 build will not be happening. We hope to have everything lined up so that once the snow melts and the ground thaws Spring 2020, we are ready to go! -Assuming we have CFEP, we are at 80% of our fundraising goal! We still have $100 000 to raise. Moving the construction to Spring 2020 means that we can reapply for a few grants that we were declined for earlier this year. -Variety Alberta has worked out the opportunity for you to put your name on a paving stone in the park with a $1500 donation while a $5000 donation will get you a granite block in a seating area! You can coordinate a group donation of either amount and your group can choose what will be on the stones. Donations can be made online through Variety Alberta at: http://varietyalberta.ca/give/. -The playground design has been updated and the building application has been submitted to City Hall. Now we wait for approvals...

Save the date!!! ParksFest details are out! Come out and vote for our playground project and 2 others that you like! We could win $25 000, $15 000 or $10 000 if enough people vote for us! Everyone 5 years old and up is eligible to vote.

I was hoping to have this project wrapped up by the end of the year but it looks like it's going to take a bit longer...

We were hopeful to be awarded the provincial CFEP grant ($125K). However, since the provincial government doesn't have a budget yet, CFEP is not awarding any grants until they know what the budget is. This means that a fall 2019 build is very unlikely for our playground but we are hopeful for a spring 2020 build! In the meantime, please help spread the word to donate at http://varietyalberta.ca/1889-2/ !!

We're getting close to playground equipment ordering time (read: we need money). If you've been thinking about donating and haven't done so yet, here's where to do it! If you think your company would be interested in supporting our project, let us know! http://varietyalberta.ca/1889-2/

We don't have the money or space to do everything this inclusive playground in Montreal has done but we're doing what we can! (we've been quiet the last couple of weeks due to summer adventures but we're back now and will be posting somewhat regularly [life-permitting] again) http://strollerparking.ca/de-la-confederation-park/

Check out our promo video for the Parks Foundation Energize Awards!!! Please pass it along to anyone who may be interested in supporting our project - every donation counts! https://youtu.be/osKgSux4tO4

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the big-picture design of the playground. The images shared before show the type of equipment that will be in the playground. This image shows what the overall park space will look like. We're excited for this design that moves the playground space to the northern slopes of the off-leash dog park! This brings the playgroud closer to the accessible parking stall in the parking lot. Feel free to message us if you have any questions

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Neighbour Day event at Cafe Rosso last Saturday to support the playground! We had some great conversations with neighbours about the new design update. Between the "Drinks by Donation" at Ramsay Rosso, Foothills Creamery's scoops by donation and our table of bumper stickers, cotton candy, popcorn and cookies, $1400 was raised to go towards the playground. Thank you!!!

NEW SIMPLIFIED SCHEDULE!!! Please meet at the Bellevue/MacDonald Ave Off-Leash dog park at 2:45PM to sign waivers and filming will begin at 3PM. See you there!

Initiatives like this are one reason why we chose to partner with Variety - the Children's Charity of Alberta to build our inclusive playground!!!

It's so great to see that there are so many fun and interesting events happening for Neighbour Day on Saturday! Be sure to come by #RossoRamsay! It's the only place you'll find "I heart Ramsay" bumper/bike/wagon/laptop mailbox stickers, sunshine cookies baked by Bite, and information about an UPDATED playground design!

We're selling "I Ramsay" bumper stickers!!! The wonderful and local Monica Ila designed them for us (monicaila.com; Insta: monica.ila). We'll be selling them at the June 15 Ramsay Rosso Neighbourday Patio Block Party. If you're super stoked for one (or five), I'll have some with me at the general meeting tonight (June 4) at 7pm.

Here's a great review of Sacha's Park in Ontario that I posted a video about a couple weeks ago: http://strollerparking.ca/sachas-park-lorignal-ontario/

"Out of Calgarys 1,100 playgrounds, 30 have at least one piece of accessible equipment, including ramps and ground-level play panels, and 14 of these are equipped with accessible rubber safety surfaces." Having ONE piece of accessible equipment doesn't mean a playground is accessible (especially if you have to cross pea gravel or large wood chips to get to it). Having ramps does not mean that the individuals needing the ramps have anything to do once they get to the top of t...he ramp. Ground level play areas are often placed under platforms where other kids are running around above you. We want Ramsay's new playground to do better. We want it to be a playground where there are multiple ways for people of all abilities to play together. (Note: Article is from January 14, 2018) https://calgaryherald.com//city-looks-to-increase-accessib

So there won't be a beach at our playground but this is still cool!!! The world needs more places that truly embrace inclusivity. (note: article is from July 2018) https://www.cbc.ca//accessible-beach-equipment-arrives-in-

Did you know that the super popular rollerslides (like the one at the Fort Calgary red playground) are static-free, meaning they're safe for kids (and adults) with cochlear implants?!?! Plastic slides can create static and metal slides often get really hot in the sun. Having a rollerslide in our new playground means safe sliding fun for everyone!!

Are you interested in donating your recyclable bottles to help support Ramsay's new inclusive playground? Sign up with SKIP THE DEPOT and they will come right to your house and pick them up! Choose the RAMSAY INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND as your charity of choice and the money from your bottles will go to our playground! https://app.skipthedepot.com/login

We are excited to create a safe and fun space for people with disabilities! A cool byproduct of some of the equipment we're eyeing up, like the expression swing, is that they also encourage intergenerational interaction! The hard part is deciding which version(s) we want... https://www.gametime.com/expression