Lynn cerebral palsy agency gets new play structure

LYNN – John Ford couldn’t be coaxed to try out the slide at Cerebral Palsy of Eastern Massachusetts Inc., but he didn’t mind pitching in over the weekend to help install it.””We had a good crew here,” said the School Committee member, who is also still a working aide for former State Rep. Steven Walsh.The Johnson Street agency got new playground equipment installed thanks in part to Walsh, whose children have received services there, and to a vast array of volunteers.CPEM Executive Director Andrew Baumgartner first met Walsh when he invited him to play in the organization’s annual golf tournament.Later when Walsh dropped off his son, Myles, who was born with a heart defect requiring a lengthy hospitalization immediately following his birth, Baumgartner asked the representative to take a walk with him.”I showed him our old playground,” Baumgartner said. “I said I’d like to get a new one.”After thinking it over for about a day, Baumgartner said Walsh called him back and agreed to help fundraise.”He and his wife Annie raised about $10,000,” Baumgartner said.Baumgartner said he learned that if he ordered the new structure by Thanksgiving, he could save significantly, but it would be delivered in January. He reached out to a friend, however, Don MacLaren of Tewksbury Welding, who agreed to store the unassembled equipment until spring.Ford said Friday volunteers gathered to put the structure together and quickly realized it would be harder than anticipated. Another phone call and MacLaren sent over six men who put it together in about six and a half hours, Ford said.”What a difference it makes when you know what you’re doing,” he said. “They just banged it out.”The new structure that is all bright primary colors comes with dual slides on either end connected by a wide tube, a platform, ladders and a spiral pole to slide down. It replaced an outdated plastic piece of equipment that was half its size. There are also educational panels, Baumgartner pointed out.Panels with mazes and letters flank the crawl-through tube, while a free-standing structure offers gears to turn, a steering wheel to turn and bells to sound. There is also a hearing tube where words can be whispered into a tube on one side of the playground and heard coming from a tube on the other side of the playground, Baumgartner demonstrated.”It’s to encourage them to talk to each other,” he said.Tucked away on Johnson Street in a former funeral parlor, CPEM serves about 1,300 children through prenatal, early intervention and preschool services as well as with home visits.”Eighty-two percent of kids under three are in our program,” Baumgartner said.The playground is used by the early intervention toddler group and the preschool kids, about 175 kids per week, he added.Nick Meninno of Meninno Construction also pitched in, digging the holes for the posts and providing 10 inches deep of mulch for a soft landing, Baumgartner said.Baumgartner said there are also plans to install a video camera because the old structure had been hit by graffiti artists in the past.Walsh isn’t done helping out, either. Baumgartner said Walsh and his wife will sponsor a second fundraiser for the playground Sunday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Kings Lynnfield, an upscale bowling alley, 510 Market St., Lynnfield. Tickets are $25 per person.Contact CPEM at 781-593-2727 for more information.