An open house Spring Carnival at Green Acres Elementary may just have been the cherry on the cake – or, in this case, the red nose on the clown – that will allow the school to purchase much-needed playground equipment.
For about two years now, parents have been trying to raise money to help the school’s goal of replacing outdated playground structures. Through bingo game nights, food establishment fundraisers, T-shirt sales and donations from the community, the bars on a goal thermometer inched upward bits at a time.
“It’s been a dream to get a new playground, but it’s, like, $50,000,” said Gina Barnett, behavior support professional at Green Acres and PTC member.
Michelle Steinhebel, Lebanon Community School District’s director of communications, said Green Acres will pull a total of $16,000 from its discretionary budget from this year and next year, as well as another $16,000 from the district’s special revenue fund from this year and next, to put toward the cost of the new playground.
With those additional funds from the district, the thermometer was nearly at its top mark by the time carnival day arrived on March 5.
“We will hit $48,000 minimum after this, I imagine, especially when we outsold everything that we projected,” Principal Amanda Bouchor said.
Indeed, a line of carnival-goers wrapped around the building, and raffle tickets and pizza sold out by the end of the night. The event included a silent auction, raffle drawings, refreshments, a photo booth, karaoke, cake walk, book fair, games and a gym full of carnival activities.
Parent Alyssa Poplin was happy to attend the “absolutely awesome” carnival.
“Our kids go to school here and it’s a great opportunity to give back to the school, help with their new playground that they desperately need,” she said.
Former student Rhyder Garner, 12, said the carnival was “really fun,” adding that the best part was the food and games. So, pretty much everything. Since he lives across from the school, Rhyder and his family are very familiar with the playground equipment, and they all agreed replacing the aged structures is long overdue.
“It’s from, like, the ’60s,” said Cody Garner, Rhyder’s dad.
“It was decent, but I was always thinking they need a little upgrade,” Rhyder said.
In the nine years Barnett has worked at Green Acres, she noticed the playground structures getting “rougher and rougher.” According to her, an all-metal structure needed re-welding a few times, vandals created cigarette burns and graffiti, and at one point a slide had broken off.
“We didn’t have a slide for about a month, and they had it all, like, crossed off with the yellow tape; it looked like a crime scene,” she joked.
Bouchor noted the all-wood structure is creating splinters and tends to attract yellow jackets, and one of the structures is still usable but needs some repainting and repair.
With the school now reaching its minimum goal, Bouchor anticipates seeing the installation of brand new equipment this summer. According to her, the cost to install the equipment is about the same as the cost of the equipment itself.
She said the families, staff and students all participated in voting for the chosen equipment, a $24,000 “Bayou Vista.” The 32-foot by 46-foot structure features three slides, climbers, bars and a rock wall.
In addition to all those who attended the event, the volunteers who made the Spring Carnival a success (raising approximately $4,000) included school staff, parents, community volunteers, and one transfer student from Spain, 15-year-old Teo Del Rio, who helped make snow cones and said of the opportunity, “It’s good.”
