Rotary writes a big check for city’s kids
$25,000 pledged for new Hubbard Park playscape
By Steven Scarpa
Record-Journal staff
MERIDEN
— The Rotary Club has donated $25,000 toward the construction of a new playscape at Hubbard Park and is challenging
local businesses to match its contribution.
The donation was announced Tuesday at the club’s weekly
lunch meeting. “Doing things for children is always the right thing to do,” said Craig Nielsen, club president.
The prospect of that $50,000 now brings to about $110,000 the total amount raised by Noah’s Ark of Hope, a
nonprofit foundation formed in the wake of 1-year-old Noah Bourdon’s death in an August playground accident.
The city’s Hubbard Park Playground Committee also has applications for approximately $140,000 in grants outstanding.
The handicapped-accessible playscape is estimated at about $230,000 if done all at once. “This is a beautiful project, and the
fact you are standing behind it is exemplary,” said Dawn Reynolds, a member of the Hubbard Park Playground Committee.
Sarah Bourdon, Noah’s mother, quoted poet Maya Angelou in her brief, emotional remarks to the club:
“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.” She said she never dreamed the foundation would be able to
raise such a large amount in such a short period of time. “We were never prepared to get so much community support,”
she said. | |
Bourdon
said that, thanks to the Rotary Club’s generosity, there is no question that the project will be completed by the spring.
“It will be safe. It will be beautiful. But most of all, it will be fun,” she said.
She believes that
not only is a new playground good for the children and parents who while away the hours there, it is good for the people who
pass by and hear laughter and see children playing.
“We are searching for ways to continue to smile,”
Sarah Bourdon said of herself and her husband, Christian, the city’s recreation director. “You are helping us
do this.”
The next fundraiser for the playscape will take place Saturday, when the classic rock band
Riverstreet will play at a dance called “A Night for Noah.” The dance will be from 8 p.m. to midnight at the Mountainside
special event facility in Wallingford. “It is definitely going to be a party atmosphere,” said Mike Showerda,
a member of Riverstreet.
Advance sales for the dance have been good, Showerda said, and there are still tickets
available at the door. Tickets are $ 20 and all proceeds will go toward construction of the playscape. Tickets are
available at JC Music, Katz Sport Shop, Fischer’s Fine Foods, Kelli’s a Salon, Valencia Liquors, Village
Barn and Quality Time, or by calling (203) 235-4508 or 237-7908.
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