Steve King Honored for Commitment to Inclusive Playground Design

Posted on May 3, 2012 by PlayLSI

Steve King was honored with the Visionary Leadership Award from Shane’s Inspiration, a nonprofit organization specializing in the design and educational programming of inclusive playgrounds, at their annual gala on April 21. King, the cofounder of Landscape Structures Inc., the Delano, Minn.-based commercial playground equipment manufacturer, was recognized for his commitment to providing inclusive playground equipment for children of all abilities as well as his philanthropic support of Shane’s Inspiration’s abilities awareness programs.

King, an American Society of Landscape Architecture Fellow, created a new type of play environment as his final project at Iowa State. After observing children at nearby playgrounds and the child development department on campus, he put together a concept that combined traditional playground equipment such as slides and climbers into an endless stream of connected activities, which he later termed “continuous play.”

Since that concept was introduced, King has continued to build upon it. He has committed his entire life to creating play spaces for children of all abilities. King was chairman of a task group of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) that worked with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) to update the ASTM F1487 Specification, a voluntary safety and accessibility standard for public playground equipment designed for children ages 2 to 12. His task group had the added responsibility of developing playground accessibility standards to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In addition to his commitment to providing truly inclusive playground equipment, King was honored for his continued support of Shane’s Inspiration. King and his wife and cofounder of Landscape Structures, Barbara (1946-2008), met Catherine Curry-Williams and Tiffany Harris, cofounders of Shane’s Inspiration, more than 10 years ago. Since then, Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures have partnered to design and install more than 30 inclusive playgrounds throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Dreams becoming reality

Posted on April 2, 2012 by PlayLSI

Region 3 Winner: The Princess Alexa Foundation, Keller, Texas

The plans for Alexa’s Playground are coming along nicely. The playground designs are complete, and we are waiting to see the final layout with the colors. The grounds of Keller Sports Park have been leveled, and soon the space will be surveyed to determine accurate placement of the inclusive playground equipment. As we get closer to completion, we’re getting even more excited to see this dream of Alexa’s become a reality.

In addition to finalizing the playground designs and site plans, the Princess Alexa Foundation is working to secure funding. Recently, we were chosen as one of the beneficiaries of a local charity golf tournament. We are also working on a couple of grant proposals, and hope to connect with a local businessman who is influential within the community.

Setting forth on an incredible journey

Posted on March 9, 2012 by PlayLSI

Region 2 Winner: The FUNdation, South Elgin, Ill.

On Oct. 21, 2011, we marked the beginning of an incredible journey for FUNdation and the Village of South Elgin, Ill. We marked our celebration as the region 2 winner of the Together We Play™ contest by hosting a kickoff celebration at the location of our inclusive playground site. We held a community options planning session and invited many local community members to help us dream big! Great design ideas were shared by school administration, parents, Village administration, parks and recreation staff, teachers and committee members. In December, we received conceptual designs from Shane’s Inspiration and are on our way to completion.

Several of our committee members visited Landscape Structures in Delano, Minn., to take a tour of their production facility. Not only are the products produced by Landscape Structures of the highest quality, we learned so much about the culture of their business. And with the addition of their concrete manufacturing plant, nothing is impossible to create into play. We plan to include concrete products in our playground design.

Tiffany Harris and Brad Thornton from Shane’s Inspiration joined us on a cold, blizzard-filled evening in January as we reached out to our community members to gain support for this inclusive play project. After we shared our vision for inclusive play with those in attendance, we asked everyone to become ambassadors for this unique project. We have hosted two more open houses to educate community members, and we continue to research possible funding opportunities to help us meet our $1.1 million budget goal.

Officially under way

Posted on March 2, 2012 by PlayLSI

Region 1 Winner: City of Gig Harbor, Wash.

The design process for the inclusive playground at the Gig Harbor Maritime PlayZone is officially under way. Representatives from Landscape Structures and Shane’s Inspiration attended a design event, which was scheduled to brainstorm concepts for the playground. The new play space will be inclusive for children and adults of all abilities. Committee Chair Stephanie Payne said the group has now started its fundraising process and hopes to raise $100,000. After speaking at local Rotary clubs and organizations, she said, the group will start branching out to regional businesses and individual families for donations. The playground committee is expecting to see the conceptual design in eight to 12 weeks, with the complete design coming four weeks after that.

Playground project kick off

Posted on February 23, 2012 by PlayLSI

Grand Prize Winner: Wheaton Park District, Wheaton, Ill.

Receiving the Together We Play™ grand prize has been terrific way to kick off this significant project for our community and the region. Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures visited our community in October to see the site, develop our matrix of design elements and formally present the award at the Wheaton Park District Board of Commissioners meeting on Oct. 19. Since then, the concept has been presented to several community groups including two enthusiastic grade school classes. We are eagerly awaiting the Shane’s Inspiration design that will allow us to start formal fundraising for the project.

Gathering excitement

Posted on February 16, 2012 by PlayLSI

Region 3 Winner: The Princess Alexa Foundation, Keller, Texas

The Princess Alexa Foundation has been gathering excitement about Alexa’s Playground! This month, our focus is getting a few major contacts on board to work with us on our Sneak Peak event, a no-ask event where we will approach the community with the playground design concepts and generate excitement and support for the project. We have also been speaking to community groups about sponsoring pieces of the playground – local moms clubs, major churches, school groups, etc. Alexa’s Playground will soon be a reality!

Making progress

Posted on February 6, 2012 by PlayLSI

Region 5 Winner: City of Lewiston, Maine

On Nov. 15, we had a press conference and extensive meetings with Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures. Since then, we’ve had a stakeholder’s matrix meeting and have shared all our thoughts and ideas around a theme of “The River” to Shane’s Inspiration’s Landscape Architect Virginia Hatley. Because the City of Lewiston is focusing on developing its riverfront, this inclusive playground theme seems like it will fit perfectly into Marcotte Park. We are now waiting for Virginia’s rendering of the design.

Stay tuned for more updates from the City of Lewiston, as well as the grand prize and other regional winners.

A unique perspective

Posted on December 7, 2011 by PlayLSI

The City of Lewiston, Maine, is the region five winner of the Together We Play™ essay contest. The vision for this community’s inclusive playground comes from a unique perspective–providing a place where children can not only play with their friends, but also with their parents or guardians. Read below to learn more about their vision for inclusion on the playground.

“As parents of a 4-year-old, they want quality play time with her. Ben has been a quadriplegic since December 2007 and finding ways to play together has been difficult.

They desire a playground where children and adults with disabilities feel welcome–a centralized play area versus being separated from others. Inclusiveness, they say, would affirm that others are willing to share time/space with them. Ben believes the playground would be a fresh, unbiased experience where play, socialization and education would be common ground for a new adventure!”

Sunday Night is Football Night

Posted on December 5, 2011 by PlayLSI

If you’re a football fan, you probably watch Sunday Night Football each weekend. What you might not pay attention to is the halftime show. However, last night, the halftime show featured Shane’s Inspiration and Landscape Structures playground equipment at Westside Park in L.A. The organization will be featured as part of Toyota’s Halftime Hand Off program, which aids organizations that use sports as a vehicle for change.

Jungle Wall at Westside Park

The Halftime Hand Off program profiles four organizations on the Toyota Facebook page each week, and asks fans to vote for the charity they feel is most deserving of support. The organization receiving the most votes each week receives a $10,000 donation from Toyota and is featured during the following week’s halftime show segment.

In addition to being featured on NBC’s Sunday Night Football and the $10,000 donation, NBC will create a 2-minute video on Shane’s Inspiration’s behalf that will be posted on YouTube and Facebook.

Congratulations to Shane’s Inspiration!

Where do you get your inspiration?

Posted on November 17, 2011 by PlayLSI

The region 4 winner of the Together We Play™ essay contest is Kate’s Kause in Elmira, Ontario. Kate’s Kause is a 100 percent charitable organization committed to Angelman Syndrome awareness and fundraising for inclusive community projects. Read the excerpt below to learn where Kate’s mom, Kelly, gets her inspiration.

“My inspiration comes from our beautiful 2-year-old daughter, Kate. Kate was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome (AS) in 2010. AS is a traumatic diagnosis: those afflicted suffer from severe physical and intellectual disabilities, have poor verbal skills, sleep disorders, sensory sensitivities and require full support throughout their lives. To help bolster our spirits, we have created an organization named for Kate–Kate’s Kause–which we hope will help create the necessary change that will benefit all children. As Kate’s mom, I have the same dreams and hopes for Kate that any parent has: I want her to be happy, be surrounded by people who love her and be included in the world. One way of helping us fulfill our dream of full inclusion for Kate is through helping her do what children do best: play.”