For their new playground at Warwick Neck Elementary School (WNES), the PTA Playground Committee is looking to raise $30,000 in addition to the $150,000 allocated from the voter-approved Phase I school bond. Julie Loffredi, co-chair for WNES PTA Playground Committee said, in a release, public funds have been spent but private donations can help add more to the playground.

Loffredi said that the committee is looking to add a spiral slide, bars, climber deck, ladder, a fish net climber, and maybe even a clatter bridge with the Phase I bond funds already available. The release said if the additional $30,000 funds are raised, the committee would consider looking to install a track ride feature, a double swoosh slide, deck link, arcade climber, and protective decks on the playground.

The existing six-bay swing set, according to Loffredi, would remain intact and she estimates the new playground installments from the Phase I bond should be ready for students and public use by July. Co-chair Katie Mulligan said the playground is not up to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) code but the renovations would be.

“We are thrilled that WNES was selected as one of the first elementary schools in this enormous playground project in Warwick. Our students and families deserve a safe space to play on that is accessible to all,” Warwick Neck Elementary Principal Patricia Cousineau said in the release.

Mulligan said she and Loffredi wanted to raise funds for a new playground but learned that the Phase I bond included playground upgrades, so they turned their efforts to educating the community on how the school would benefit from it. According to Mulligan, after the school recognized the bond would only cover a portion of what they desired, Cousineau asked her and Loffredi to try their original plan to raise funds so the school could purchase that additional equipment. 

Their idea for raising those funds will come from bracelets that Warwick Neck students create. These homemade bracelets cost $1 each and are available for purchase at the WNES school store. On Thursday, March 26, students will stay after school to make homemade bracelets to support fundraising efforts. Mulligan said her and Loffredi’s kids will help educate other students on how to make each bracelet.

O’ Brien & Sons is supplying the equipment from manufacturer Landscape Structures Inc. and Central Nurseries will install the new playground.

“Kids have patiently waited for this new playground and taxpayers have already agreed to pitch in. Our hope is the generous Warwick Neck community will now come forward and help take the school’s full vision to completion,” Mulligan and Loffredi said in a joint statement.

Mulligan said donations to WNES are tax-deductible and checks can be written out to Warwick Neck PTA. The committee is asking donors to write “playground” in the memo section.