Mother initiates North Star playground fundraiser

The North Star Elementary School playground was vandalized last summer and a Hingham woman has helped initiate a $50,000 fundraiser to not only repair but upgrade the playground.

Jessica Myers, mother of three, said she hopes to raise the money to build the ideal playground - to get everything on their wish list.

Northwest Farm Credit Services helped put a dent on that "lofty goal" Tuesday with a $1,000 check.

Havre Branch Manager Shaud Schwarzbach presented the check at 11 a.m. in the school gymnasium, where all the students gathered to thank Schwarzbach.

Myers had put in for a grant last year - one of many she had applied for - and Tuesday's presentation marked the last grant that was awarded in 2017 by the financial service company, Schwarzbach said.

The playground has been cleaned up since someone tore out a play mat and tied a metal climbing apparatus to their vehicle and plucked it out of the ground.

The next phase in the project is to start repairing and adding, North Star School Superintendent Bart Hawkins said. Some of the add-on pieces had already been ordered and were shipped, he added, but have not been installed because they arrived after winter hit.

Work will began on the playground in the spring, Hawkins said. Work on the playground will be done whether the $50,000 goal is reached or not, he added.

Fundraising began Sept. 7 when Liberty Medical Center donated more than $1,000, Myers said.

Another portion of the goal will come from a projected 10,000 pairs of new and "gently used" donated shoes, Myers said. She has partnered with the Florida-based for-profit organization funds2orgs. At 40 cents a pound, Myers said, the projected goal is to get about $4,000 for the shoes. One of the goals of funds2orgs is to get those used shoes to developing nations, where walking is a major mode of transportation. Once 10,000 pounds, or pairs of shoes - one pair is about one pound - are collected, funds2orgs will pay Myers for the shoes, she said.

Boxes for shoe collection have been set up at the school, at the Spencer's Hi-Way Bar & Grill in Hingham and at Duchscher Insurance in Havre.

Myers said one of the reasons for the upgraded playground is to better accommodate students with disabilities and to provide indoor playing options.

In addition to the swing, basketball court and climbing apparatus the playground already had, Myers wants students to have a playground they can enjoy when the weather puts a freeze on outside fun. Meyers said she realized a third of recess time was spent indoors.

"So we looked at inside equipment," she said.

Horizontal climbing wheels, a ga-ga pit, foam blocks and double-dutch jump ropes are some of the additions she'd like to see added, she said.