Early in March of 2020 I was working on my computer in the lobby of the preschool and daycare.
It was a beautiful day, and I was watching as our preschool room was walking down the hall and then went outside to use the playground. I watched one of our little girls, a sweet 2 year old named Baylor, push herself independently down the hall in her wheel chair. Baylor was born with a condition that does now allow her the use of her legs, yet she is very mobile with the use of her wheelchair. I watched as she pushed her herself independently through the door, but then immediately stopped at the edge of the playground. She couldn’t go any further because her wheelchair couldn’t go through the mulch. My heart sank as I watched her waiting patiently for the teacher to come and pick her up to carry her over to the swings so that she could play. I cried out then and there, “Lord Jesus, may we someday have a playground that allows her, and anyone with a disability to roam free right alongside the other children.” And as I sat there praying, I felt God saying to me, “not ‘someday’, Breanne. Now.”
Immediately the dreaming began. Through lots of investigating, talking with professionals, and planning meetings with fellow staff members, we got connected with Little Tikes Commercial, a company that partners with an organization called Unlimited Play. This organization specializes in creating universally accessible playgrounds for children of all abilities. Once these two companies came alongside us to help us with the vision of our playground, we turned to our church community to see if they would be willing to help us turn our dream into a reality. I was absolutely blown away at the outpouring of love and support we received from our Central family. The project was 100% paid for just mere months after sharing the vision with our people. I am so humbled at the people that have worked so tirelessly to make this project happen. I definitely didn’t do this on my own, and could NOT have done it on my own, and I’m so grateful for the people that joined me in this adventure. When I think back to the first day I started dreaming, I still cannot believe that something that seemed so huge and impossible of an undertaking all happened in the course of a year and half. It is proof once again that NOTHING is impossible or too big for our amazing God.
At Central we believe that EVERY child is created in the image of God and that EVERY child deserves our best effort. We are extremely excited about this playground and we cannot wait to see the impact it will have not just on our school, and our church, but our entire community