4/26/2000 Agenda & Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Exhibit D nrryskie Elementary School • committee March 29, 2000 Terri Blattenbauer Mounds View Park & Recreation 5394 Edgewood Drive Mounds View, MN 55112 Dear Terri, We are writing this letter to request your help in funding a new playground for Sunnyside Elementary School. We would appreciate your time and consideration. We have a twelve member committee that has been working for almost two years on this project to include careful planning and analysis of our equipment needs on our playground. We believe our 525 students at Sunnyside need and deserve a safer, more accessible and more exciting • playground. The structures we have now are over 11 years old and extremely worn as they have had very heavy use. One is a wooden structure that causes many slivers and scrapes on a daily basis and the other structure is metal with peeling paint and rust. Both pieces of equipment meet code from the era in which they were purchased but do not compare with today's stronger and safer equipment for children. The new equipment we are planning for is accessible to young children as well as physically challenged students. This is not the case with our current playground. Our new playground will include three phases. The first, an eight swing swingset one being handicapped accessible was completed in the spring of 1999. Sunnyside has not had swings for many years. This equipment has provided an activity that is not only fun but relaxing and calming as it meets the very special needs of a number of our students. The second and third phases replace the aged large playground areas we currently have. Each of these areas are estimated to cost roughly $33,000. Our plan is to save as much money as possibe by having volunteer parents do the installation and by using community help with needed excavation. We have worked with three companies in the planning stages and have selected the Miracle Recreation Company to provide us with the best quality and durability at a fair price. To date we have raised $21,000 toward the goal of purchasing phases two and three equipment. Through special fund raising events with our staff, students and parents we have • collected over $10,000 This represents student council, PTA, Sunnyside Carnival and a lot of general constituencies. Currently we have over $12,000 donated from local agencies that include $5,000 from the City of New Brighton, $2,500 from the Mounds View Lions, and $2,500 from the Mounds View / New Brighton Chamber of Commerce just to name a few. We have plans to work closely with a number of agencies in search of support for our playground needs.