All-together Playground

In 2014, right around the time Ellie passed away, Orem City approved the building of an "All-Together Playground". This is an all accessible playground designed to allow children with special needs to play alongside their peers. The city approved $150,000 to put toward the $1 million project. It was then up to the community to come up with the remaining $850,000 to make this park a reality. I have watched from a distance in Omaha over the last two years as our home community has come together to make this park a reality. There have been fundraising events including an all-together triathlon with the Iron Cowboy, Jimmer Fredette put on an all-together shootout, and a belly-flop contest just to name a few. There were also countless private donations like famous stand up comedian Brian Regan who donated all the proceeds from one of his shows in Salt Lake which donated the $10,000 wheelchair swing for the playground. People in the community could donate money to have their name put on a fence picket that surrounds the park or put a business logo on a paver. Our family decided to use Ellie's Christmas money last year to purchase three fence pickets. We chose to put Ellie Jane Murray, The Murray Family, and The Hale Family on the pickets. My parents also wanted to donate a paver and chose to put the Friends of 4p+ logo on it.
The final step was building the playground. This was to be done over a week's time with the help of 3,800 volunteers led by a team of professionals that were donating their time and services. We felt so fortunate to be back in Utah and be able to participate in this huge effort. Scott, Mason and I (you had to be 9 or older to help) spent our Labor Day doing a 4 hour shift at the playground. Our assignment was to help measure, mark, and drill holes in a whole lot of boards and carry them around the playground to where they needed to go. It was such an incredible experience to be a part of.

This weekend was the grand opening of the playground and we went to check it out. Let's just say it is going to be a very popular place!! It was amazing to see the love and acceptance that overflowed there as children and parents of all different abilities played side by side without giving a second glance at each other's differences. This playground is a light in our world that is so full of hate and intolerance.

Ellie's picket is perfectly placed right by the swings.

Ellie would have loved this swing!

My thoughts while we played on the playground naturally turned to Ellie and how much she would have loved it there. Swinging was one of her favorite things to do and always got her smiling and laughing. There is a very good chance that 3-year-old Ellie would be using a walker or wheelchair to get around and this park would have allowed her to play and explore with her brothers and sister. I'm sure it would have been a favorite place for our family to bring her.