Childhood is an important time, filled with critical opportunities to interact socially and strengthen the imagination. Unfortunately, special needs children are often excluded from activities when environments are not created with inclusivity and accessibility in mind. This became real for us over the course of this last year, as our youngest daughter, Tatum, attempted to play with her older siblings at our neighborhood playground. Tatum, 2 ½ , was born with spina bifida, leaving her with limited use of her legs. She has now mastered use of a manual wheelchair. However, as she quickly adapted to using her chair at home, we struggled as a family with frustration when it came to play time.
After our first visit to an inclusive playground out of state, a vision was laid before us...the vision of bringing a one-of-a-kind, fully inclusive and accessible play experience to the children of Monterey County. We knew we were only one family who would benefit from a place like this. In fact, in our research, we found that there are nearly 7,000 children enrolled in Monterey County public schools who are participating in special education programs for children with various physical, emotional or mental disabilities. The need is great. We found that there isn't a playground like this within a 250-mile radius of Salinas. With all this in mind, we began spreading the word.
Fast forward six months, and here we are, finding the balance between running our own business, as owners of Bakker Construction-a local Design-Build firm specializing in renovations and remodels-and watching our dream of an inclusive playground in Salinas become reality! We felt strongly about naming the playground Tatum's Garden, after our Tatum who inspired the project, and calling it a "garden" as it will reflect the rich agricultural heritage of the Salinas Valley. This was important to us, as my wife, Amanda Given Bakker is a 4th generation native of the Salinas Valley, whose ancestors have all been farmers or business-owners deeply entrenched in the Ag community. We have a strong desire for the playground to be a place that is not only fun for our kids to play, but visually stunning, full of art features and educational facts about our history and story as an agricultural community.
The first week of May, our design team from Leathers and Associates, a company with 40 years of experience building accessible playgrounds, brainstormed ideas from imaginations of schoolchildren in 7 different Salinas elementary schools. Design Week culminated in the unveiling of our first draft design, which is incredible. What was an idea six months ago has taken shape on paper in such creative ideas as a Giant Broccoli Tree House, Artichoke Amphitheatre and Music Zone, Lettuce Maze and Sensory Garden, Strawberry Tot Lot, and Spinning Spinach Zone...among many other unique features with veggie-themed slides, tunnels and art features. It is amazing to watch it take shape.
What most excites us is that Tatum's Garden is a community-based effort. We have a Committee of gifted and community-minded volunteers who are just like us, many of them balancing family life with running their own businesses in the Salinas Valley. We also need to enlist the help of many to come alongside us to make this vision reality. As a community, we will raise the funds-an estimated $1,000,000-to completely restore the 4-acre property gifted to us by the City of Salinas, which is behind the Rodeo Grounds in Sherwood Park. We will also come together over the course of 6 days in the Fall of 2013, to work side-by-side with an army of 800-1,000 volunteers to construct our custom playground during Build Week. The project is fiscally sponsored by Salinas Circle for Children, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that advocates for special needs children. As a result, all donations to Tatum's Garden are tax deductible. There many ways individuals, families, small businesses and even large corporations can contribute, by sponsoring a fence picket or paving brick, a playground component such as a slide, climbing wall or swing set, and even the opportunity to sponsor entire areas of the playground, or surrounding picnic or overlook areas with major naming rights. We also will seek in-kind contributions of construction materials, which will help reduce our overall budget.
As you can imagine, our hope is that Tatum's Garden will also rejuvenate the community through more than just inclusive play. The playground will be constructed on a corner lot in Sherwood Park that has been sorely neglected. Additionally, 94% of the materials for the planned play area will be recycled composite lumber. We hope to come together and create a place we are all proud of...a place that becomes a destination attracting hundreds of families a week to the Salinas Valley from all over our region. What a gift it will be to all our children-able-bodied and disabled alike-to play in an environment that fosters inclusion, acceptance and compassion.
For us, that's what it's really all about. When we started Bakker Construction, we made it our goal to be a different kind of construction company...one with integrity, quality and vision, one that gives back to our community, one that our community can put its trust in. We hope and pray that seeing the vision of Tatum's Garden through to reality reflects that goal. And if you're willing to come out and help during Build Week, you'll see us and our whole crew getting dirty, volunteering our time as well, to help Build Tatum's Garden. Together, we can do it!
To find out how you can get involved, visit http://www.bakkerconstruction.com/ http://www.tatumsgarden.org/ , and follow us on Facebook. Bakker Construction is an award winning, full service Design/Build company specializing in all phases of residential remodeling and construction. Visit bakkerconstruction.com for more information.
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