The local Kiwanis Club has been working closely with Variety of Alberta Children’s Charity, in their ongoing mission to give a local playground a much-needed upgrade.

Now, Centennial Park is well on its way to becoming fully accessible for ALL of Cochrane's youth to enjoy. 

This morning the Kiwanis Club of Cochrane and Area handed over a cheque for $130,000; funds that will be used for the Centennial Park higher pad upgrade to improve the park's accessibility.

A large portion of that total was obtained from a provincial grant to the tune of $125,000 and through fundraising and generous community donations, the local Kiwanis Club contributed the remaining $5,000.

President of the local Kiwanis Club, Ron Gosselin says that this is part of the club's commitment to providing opportunities for youth in the area. He explains that the club recognizes and values the importance of 'play.'

"Play is a really crucial part of building children's physical, social and intellectual skills," explains Gosselin. "Really playgrounds create opportunities for breaking down barriers, interactive play and it offers teachable opportunities where people can see a person before the disability."

The Variety organization specializes in building inclusive playgrounds and they will manage the physical aspect of this large undertaking. A portion of the playground upgrade has already taken place, and Gosselin says that these funds will go a long way to completing the project.

"When Centennial Park was built, it wasn't built to allow children and community members living with disabilities to be able to use it," explains Gosselin. "There was a previous project two or three years ago where the lower pad of the park was upgraded, so now we're embarking on upgrading the higher pad and finishing the job at the park."

A portion of the funds will be used to replace the protective surfacing in Centennial Park's east playground and Gosselin says that the remainder will be used to replace the existing playground equipment with updated, accessible equipment.

"The elevation of it and the way in which kids can access the equipment is different than you would normally see," says Gosselin.

He says that between generous donations and grants, the project is now fully funded, with the build scheduled to start in late September or early October.