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Rainbow Lake Playground January Update

Rainbow Lake Playground FundraisingWe’re a little over one month into the construction project at Rainbow Lake Playground, and we wanted to share some exciting news.  The project is 2/3 of the way to its funding goal, with $270,000 raised of the $400,000 needed to complete the project. AutoZone has funded the construction of The Spiderwebs, our new cargo net climbing structure, and The Children’s Foundation has made a significant contribution to the building of Up & Down & All Around, the wooden climbing structure.

If you haven’t made a gift toward the Rainbow Lake Playground project, now is the perfect time to do so, because a generous donor will match all gifts up to $10,000!  This means that any gift you make will be doubled, enabling the playground to meet its funding goals and open as scheduled in late spring.  We need your help to make sure the playground is ready to welcome visitors for the summer season!

We want to give a special shout-out to everyone who has donated to the project so far.  You can view that list here.  Don’t you think your name would look awesome there?

Construction Update
Meanwhile, construction is progressing well on the site.  In the early part of the month, crews from Viktor Hall Construction dismantled portions of the stone wall surrounding the playground so that a second entrance path could be added.  Much of the stone will be reused on other parts of the wall.  The pebbles have been cleared from around the existing structures to make way for the new natural safety surface.

Tree root at Rainbow Lake PlaygroundRight now, most of the work is taking place underground.  A 3-foot-deep trench has been dug to bury drainage pipe, with more digging to come.  Improving the drainage will eliminate rot to the structures that was resulting from water ponding around the equipment.  It will also help to keep the safety surface dry.  The trench was dug in a location that minimized impact to tree roots, although the trees are nothing if not persistent: check out this photo showing how the roots of a nearby tree have grown directly along the curves of the stone wall!  This was true of both sides of the wall, including the one that wasn’t particularly close to the tree.

And we’re also happy to report that the playground has gotten the official blessing from Lady Luck: while digging on the site, one member of our crew uncovered a horseshoe!  No word yet on whether he’s since won the lottery, but we’re confident this means only good things for the project!

We’ll keep you posted as construction continues.  For now, scroll on down if you’d like to see your gift doubled!

Rainbow Lake Playground

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