Posted by Bob Spencer on Jul 30, 2018

After years of fundraising and coordination, the La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School will soon have a more inclusive playground.  Various La Crescent community members worked feverishly to finish assembling La Crescent-Hokah Elementary's new Lets Play Together Playground, a project started on Friday.

The Community Planned, Community Funded, and Community Built project aims to create a more inclusive playground for La Crescent.

Students spent five years raising over half the estimated cost of the project. A large contribution to the student's fundraising was the annual Great Green Run & Roll. The fundraiser involves students raising money for a run around the school.

The Rotary Club had $5,000 in unspent funds raised from the 2015 Music Extravaganza that we wanted to use to help the students of La Crescent.  Through Grants from the Rotary Works Foundation and District 6250, we were able to contribute over $20,000 to the project.   

While the funds help, this project was about more than the money, it is about bringing community together.  Rotarians, Lions, PTO Members, Teachers & Community Members all worked together to assemble the playground July 27-29th.  Rotary District Grant partners from Caledonia and Valley view also stepped out of their own communities to come and help us.  It was a truly a collaborative effort.

The project is designed to update the school's aging playground while creating a space students of all abilities can enjoy.

"Our current equipment doesn't offer them the same accessibility or experience. We also have students who are on the spectrum who might have sensory needs, we've got students that might be in a wheelchair that want to still play with their friends," - Jeff Copp, La Crescent-Hokah Elementary Principal.