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Community Corner

Community Playground Project Receives Grant from Walmart


The playground project at Cherry Brook Primary School recently received a $1,000 check from Walmart in support of a new, accessible, community playground.  The PTO has been extremely busy fundraising and applying for a variety of local, regional, and national grants.  Walmart was the first grant that the organization has been awarded and there are over a dozen more currently pending.

The PTO announced at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting and Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that to-date they have successfully raised over $90,000 of the estimated $214,000 required to replace both of the aging, wooden playgrounds currently on the school’s property.  The PTO is anticipating that they will be over the $100,000 mark by the end of June thanks to a few more planned PTO fundraisers including the annual Children’s Fair to be held starting at 4pm on Friday, May 30th at the school.

The hope is that through a combination of additional grants and community support, the PTO will have raised enough money by summer to install the larger of the two playgrounds.  There are two separate playgrounds on the school property – a larger area to the left of the school utilized during recess by first through third grade students, and a smaller area in the kindergarten courtyard near the cafeteria utilized by the pre-k and kindergarten students.  Assuming the larger playground was installed over the summer, the phase two goal would be to replace the smaller playground in 2015.

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The PTO is awaiting word from town CAO Robert Skinner concerning the required bid process for this project.  In the fall of 2013, the PTO worked with three local playground manufacturers to design and price out structures for these spaces.  Estimates on the larger set vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, but if the PTO can raise between $140,000 and $150,000 by June chances are pretty good that the new structure could be in prior to the start of the 2014-2015 academic year.

The PTO is accepting donations from the local community, and recently discussed sponsorship and bench donation opportunities on the Canton Patch (see article here: http://canton-ct.patch.com/groups/announcements/p/community-playground-seeks-donations).  The CBPS PTO is a 501c(3) organization and all donations are tax deductible.  Donations can be mailed to the PTO at Cherry Brook Primary School, 4 Barbourtown Road, Canton, CT  06019.  Checks should be made out the CBPS PTO.  Questions can be directed to PTO Co-Vice President, Anne Marie Pelletier, at CBPSPTO@CantonSchools.org or 860.693.1594.  Additional information about the project can also be found at the PTO’s website: http://www.cantonschools.org/~cbpspto/

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