Why should parents of the small desert community of Topock have to drive their kids 30 to 45 minutes to Needles or Lake Havasu City to play? And what about parents who don’t have transportation – where do their children play?
Those were the questions two moms from the area, Rebecca Vaughn and Autumn Boyle-Robinson, asked the community when they co-founded Project Playground a year ago. Their goal was simple: to build a playground near Topock Elementary School. The challenge: to raise $80,000 to make their dream come true.
Fundraising efforts started with a $15,000 grant from Kaboom!, a national organization that helps create new playgrounds for kids, and it appeared that the dedicated moms and community supporters were on a three-year track to raise funds and complete the project. That is, until BHHS Legacy Foundation provided a $53,333 grant to push the project forward so that the playground could be completed by late November of this year.
A special groundbreaking ceremony took place on Sept. 24 near Topock Elementary School where Vaughn and Boyle-Robinson also unveiled the park’s design and its new name, “Topock’s Totally Terrific Playground.”