Coldwell Banker CEO boosts Playground for All
Bethany Blitz Staff Writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years AGO
LISA JAMES/PressColdwell Banker of Coeur d'Alene donated $5,000 to Fernan Elemantary School to help build a playground which will be accessible to special needs students. The project was researched by then 5th, now 6th graders pictured, who flushed out what the playground would need to accommodate their special needs classmates. Fernan advanced learning teacher Pamela Kiefer, front left, is pictured with her students from left: Zach Johnson, 12, Kyle Bridge, 12, Paden Parisot, 12, and Cameron Childers, 11. Pictured in the back row, from left: Project manager Chris Shelton, Fernan principal Bi…
LISA JAMES/PressFernan 6th grader Kyle Bridge, 12, thanks Coldwell Banker President Mark Johnson on Wednesday for the donation which will help the school build a playground to accommodate their special needs students.Caldwell Banker of Coeur d'Alene donated $5,000 to Fernan Elemantary School to help build a playground which will be accessible to special needs students. The project was researched by Kyle and a team of three of his other classmates.
LISA JAMES/PressFernan 6th grader Zach Johnson, 12, thanks Coldwell Banker President Mark Johnson on Wednesday for the donation which will help the school build a playground to accommodate their special needs students.Caldwell Banker of Coeur d'Alene donated $5,000 to Fernan Elemantary School to help build a playground which will be accessible to special needs students. The project was researched by Zach and a team of three of his other classmates.
LISA JAMES/Press Coldwell Banker of Coeur d’Alene donated $5,000 to Fernan STEM Academy to help build a playground which will be accessible to special needs students. The project was researched by then fifth-, now sixth-graders pictured, who fleshed out what the playground would need to accommodate their special-needs classmates. Pictured from left, front row: Fernan advanced learning teacher Pamela Kiefer, front left, is pictured with her students from left: Zach Johnson, 12, Kyle Bridge, 12, Paden Parisot, 12, and Cameron Childers, 11. Pictured in the back row, from left: Project manag…
Playground for All got quite a boost Wednesday when Mark Johnson, the president and CEO of Coldwell Banker, donated $5,000 to the project, which is building an accessible playground at Fernan STEM Academy.
Playground for All was started by Pam Kiefer’s fifth-grade class at Fernan STEM Academy in the spring of 2016.
The project came into existence when one of the Life Skills teachers told the fifth-graders about how their new special needs classmates couldn’t play on the playground. The class jumped into action and gained enough community support to follow through.
The new playground will feature a wheelchair-accessible pathway that accommodates two wheelchairs and pull-out areas along the pathway housing activities such as marimba instruments, a wheelchair swing and a weather station.
Johnson said his mom worked with Fernan STEM Academy’s Life Skills class for more than 20 years so he’s making the donation in her name.
“It was brought to my attention they were doing this project and were a little short on cash, so we decided to step up,” he said.
Plans have been laid out and materials have been gathered through the help and donations from local architects, construction groups and lumber and roofing companies.
Johnson’s donation will pay for foundation concrete work and two wheelchair-accessible tables for the pavilion.
“It’s been a really wonderful, community supported project,” Kiefer said. “The pathway is already done and there are four kids with wheelchairs here who have already enjoyed it so much. It has been amazing to watch them out there and I can’t wait to get the rest of it built.”
The project was ready to break ground last fall, but, Kiefer said, the company that was going to pour the concrete couldn’t fit them into their schedule before the first snow came.
Now, weather permitting, the playground will be built and ready to use by the end of May.
“It’s cool to leave something behind, because kids come and go and this will stay,” said Kyle Bridge, one of the original students who hatched the plan. He now attends Canfield Middle School.
“It’s cool because it gets to help kids that usually don’t get a lot of help,” added Zach Johnson, another of the project’s founding members who now attends Canfield Middle School. “The community really came through with this.”
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