By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
HOPEWELL BOROUGH — Private donations worth a combined $40,000 are making it possible to renovate a playground at Hopewell Elementary School, providing accessibility to students with disabilities and anyone else.
George, Lynn and Mark Bovenizer of the Shepherd Foundation, and George and Caroline Ferguson were recognized at the Oct. 19 meeting of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District Board of Education for their contributions to finance installation of a flexible and smooth rubberized surface at the playground, replacing wood chips there.
Mark Bovenizer, a Hopewell Borough resident and a fire commissioner, spoke to the school board about the $35,000 donation for the project from the Shepherd Foundation, started by his father George and his father’s parents back in the 1980s.
“Tonight, we’ll give a check for $15,000,” said Mr. Bovenizer, adding that another $20,000 check will be mailed in January to the Special Education PTO of the Hopewell Valley Regional School.
“I know we have some more fund raising to do, which I’m going to help with,” said Mr. Bovenizer, who grew up in Hopewell.
“My daughters are in first and third grade (at Hopewell Elementary). My first-grader is a special-needs student,” Mr. Bovenizer. “I couldn’t be more proud, having grown up in this district, that my parents and I can give back in a very meaningful way. I’m just really happy to do this.”
Alicia Nayfield, president of the Special Education PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) expressed her gratitude at the meeting.
“I just wanted to take a very quick moment to say ‘thank you’ to the Bovenizer family,” Ms. Nayfield said. “This is an extraordinary connection and an extraordinary donation.”
“It’s not every day that people can connect in such a generous and meaningful way,” she said. “A lot of people may ask, ’Well, how many people are affected by this?,’ Well, the Bovenizer family understood very clearly that if one child misses recess, all those fundamental skill sets — like team-building, group consensus building, conflict resolution —are missed out on.”
“One of the reasons I do this is I grew up with dyslexia,” Ms. Nayfield said. “It’s so important that kids are comfortable in their own skin, and that we as a community can reach out and understand the importance and value of different physicalities and different brain structures, as well.”
George and Caroline Ferguson donated $5,000 to the project. Mr. Ferguson spoke about why his family made a contribution.
“It’s no coincidence that access to playgrounds is pretty high on my and my wife’s priority list. Our son, John, who is 9, was born with cerebral palsy, which requires him to use a wheel chair for most of his mobility needs,” Mr. Ferguson said.
“There is a lot of (child brain) development that goes on the playground that I don’t think we all know about or appreciate,” he said. “We don’t understand all of the inputs that develop or heal brains, but increasingly we’re learning that unstructured play, like you get in a playground, has a large role in development for all children.”
For those children with a fear of a boy or a girl in a wheelchair or a walker, a universally accessible playground, Mr. Ferguson said, provides an opportunity to “break down those fears or biases.”
“It helps to show them that we are all similar in our love of play, engagement with one another and the desire to run and move fast,” he said. “An accessible playground provides an environment to learn to work and play with those of us that might not have the same dexterity that we have.”
“Time is of the essence for the disabled in our community,” Mr. Ferguson said, describing his hope that the benefits of the resurfaced playground could be enjoyed by early next year.
Superintendent Thomas Smith said at the beginning of school board meeting that the project is scheduled for completion by spring break.
Mr. Ferguson asked school officials to further “renovate all the playgrounds in the district to be completely accessible and provide activities for children of every mobility level.”
