St. John XXIII Knights of Columbus Council 14502 is hosting a golf scramble to benefit Wood County Plays, which plans to build an inclusive playground at Carter Park in Bowling Green.

When Wood County Plays was started in the summer of 2019, organizers felt there was a recreational gap in the community. Children with disabilities struggled to enjoy traditional play spaces.

The new organization set out to close this gap by building new, inclusive playgrounds around Northwest Ohio.

Wood County Plays was founded after a 2.5-year-old grant was sidelined during a playdate with typically developing friends at a local playground.

The founders, Ryan and Kaley Wichman, were influenced by witnessing actual children with disabilities trying to enjoy a playground.

The first was their own son, Grant, so they called Brent Baer, superintendent of the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and he helped get the ball rolling.

“Grant uses a walker to move around, and mulch and stairs made it impossible for him to play with his friends. He was frustrated and we felt like we’d let our little guy down,” the organization states on its website, wcplays.org.

“Later that night, while co-founders Ryan and Kaley were looking at inclusive play space, they vowed to build a place where Grant could play like everyone else.

“Along their journey, they met other families with unique requirements to making a playground truly inclusive. The Hoge family wanted secure fencing to keep their son Asher safe in case he eloped on the playground.”

After a few short and “exciting meetings,” the first Wood County Plays design team was assembled consisting of occupational and physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, teachers, school psychologists, construction specialists, and families with special needs.

The organization’s playgrounds “address not just physical accessibility concerns but also give safe play for children with sensory, emotional, or cognitive disorders a place to play like never before — side by side with their peers.”

Together, the team designed its first playground — Perrysburg Inclusive Playground presented by Mercy Health. Mercy Health Partners, a state grant, and private donations helped the fundraising move along.

Artificial hills and slides

Through community and individual donations of over $825,000, the Perrysburg playground was built in the summer of 2021 and opened to the public in July 2021.

Now Wood County Plays is turning its attention to Carter Park in BG.

Wood County Plays has set a fundraising goal of $600,000, and the golf outing is just one fundraiser to keep the momentum going.

The new RallyCap Sports Inclusive Playground at Carter Park will have several unique features making for a memorable visit.

A larger-than-life wheelchair-accessible log in the center of the play space will allow kids to explore, climb and imagine play together.

Northwest Ohio is known for its lack of hills but not on this playground. A five-foot high artificial turf hillside and slides will create unique challenges for any visitor.

Friends and family will also get to enjoy a wheelchair swing in Wood County. This easy access-designed swing will ensure all can experience the joy of gliding through the air.

And for thrill-seekers, a seven-foot high climbing course will challenge their ability to race to the top.

The St. John’s Knights of Columbus helped raise money for the Perrysburg playground and now they are involved in raising money for the Carter Park playground because it follows in line with what they have done the past three years.

Last year the Knights used their golf outing to raise money for Cocoon, which exists to provide safety, healing and justice for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, their children, and all others affected by these abuses.

“We actually screened a number of opportunities early in the year,” said golf committee chairperson Daryl Brunswick.

“Looking at those opportunities, we picked that as one of the ones we wanted to go with because we did a similar project two years ago — the Perrysburg All-Inclusive Park, and we thought that was a good cause.

“We also picked out of that listing we picked Mom’s House. We had a reverse raffle earlier in the year and the proceeds we gave Mom’s House a $4,000 donation plus $1,000 we bought a sponsorship in their golf outing, so in total we are giving Mom’s House $5,000,” Brunswick continued.

“We are going to give the Wood County Plays $5,000 and last year we did a whole playground system for Cocoon and the year before we did the Perrysburg all-inclusive park.

“We get a listing of the needs, and we look at the pros and cons and what is similar to the things we’ve done, and we go from there. We vote on what missions to support.

“We’re just trying to do our part. We are not going to fund it all, for sure.”

The golf outing is July 30 at Riverby Hills Golf Club with registration at 11 a.m. and a shotgun start at 1 p.m.

Cost is $75 per golfer and $300 per foursome. Contact Brunswick at 419-266-2928 or [email protected].