New Joya playground funded by Kiwanis donations

A dozen local Kiwanis clubs have been working for more than a year to raise the money needed to pay for a new accessible playground at the Joya Child and Family Development facility, which offers a variety of therapy and special education services for children under the age of 3 with physical and developmental disabilities.

The Greater Spokane Division of Kiwanis includes a dozen clubs. More than a year ago, when Joya was in the midst of a capital fundraising campaign, discussions were held about funding a playground. Gary Jespersen, co-chair of the Joya Playground Committee that was formed to work on the effort, said all 12 clubs came together to raise the money.

“These kids need help from the start and that’s kind of the Kiwanis’ core philosophy,” he said.

Funding the playground was the first time the division as a whole worked together to fund a capital project, Jespersen said. The fundraising effort was kick-started by the Kiwanis Club of Downtown Spokane, which promised $50,000 to match the money raised by other clubs.

“Every one of the clubs stepped up and made a commitment to it,” Jespersen said. “Most of the clubs are quite small, 10 or 12 members, and they don’t have big bank accounts.”

Clubs did a variety of fundraisers to bring in money for the project, including garage sales, running concession stands, selling ornaments and selling flowers.

In addition to the money pledged by the individual clubs, the Pacific Northwest Kiwanis Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to the project. This month the Kiwanis Children’s Fund, a national organization, announced a $20,000 grant for the project, providing the last funding required for the $115,000 playground.

Jespersen said Joya moved ahead with construction of the playground, which opened in June, while the fundraising was still ongoing. The playground is next to the new Joya facility at 1016 N. Superior St. that was completed in May. The playground is accessible to children of all physical abilities, Jespersen said.

“It has specialized equipment,” he said. “It has sensory items. It has an accessible merry-go-round. The entire playground is covered with a specialized rubber matting.”

Jespersen said it’s not uncommon for local Kiwanis clubs to work with children. Some clubs offer after-school tutoring while others run service leadership programs for kids and send children to summer camps.

“They’re all involved with kids in a variety of ways,” he said.

That desire to help children is a big part of the reason that the Kiwanis took such an interest in helping Joya build a new playground, Jespersen said. Local Kiwanis clubs have worked with Joya before to help purchase specialized medical equipment and had a relationship with the organization, he said.

“That’s something we really try to be a part of,” he said. “We’ve done things with them over the years, but we’ve never done anything as big as this.”

There will be a special open house at Joya on Friday to allow club members to take a tour of the new playground so they can see the result of their hard work in person, Jespersen said. A plaque recognizing the contribution of the clubs will be installed in the playground.