While "pennies from heaven" may have played a small role in building the Penny Playground at Chehalis' Recreation Park in 1993, it was the people of Chehalis and the surrounding area, along with their children, who collected most of the money — and who did all of the work.
So successful was the project, in fact, that organizers and participants still reflect fondly on the amount of fun and cooperation it took to build the playground 10 years ago this weekend. The excitement in their voices reflects their feelings about what they were able to accomplish.
Connie Small was asked all those years ago to act as project manager for the building of the playground in Chehalis. Never could she have imagined what effect that decision would have on her life, and on the lives of others in the community.
There is no question today that she would gladly do it again.
"If something like this comes along again — even though I'm now 10 years older — I'd do it again," said Small.
It was Dr. John Hendrickson, a Chehalis dentist, who brought the idea of building such a playground to the Chehalis Rotary Club in 1992. The playground constructed in just one week was based upon similar playgrounds built around the country by Robert S. Leathers & Associates Architects of Ithaca, N.Y.
At the time of the Penny Playground construction, Leathers & Associates had opened more than 700 projects that communities similar to Chehalis had built.
The company wrote: "At Robert S. Leathers and Associates we believe in the community-built philosophy. We've seen what happens when children, teens and adults take part in designing and building some of their communities' education and recreational structures.
"Completing a high-quality community project in a short time, and at an affordable cost, is a tremendous achievement. But the rewards of using our approach go far beyond that.
"The hundreds — frequently thousands — of people who take part in a Robert S. Leathers project are often surprised to find that they've gained an empowering sense of accomplishment, strong new friendships, and an enduring sense of shared community pride."
It was Hendrickson who, while visiting Oak Ridge, Tenn., also visited the site of a Leathers playground. He took pictures and compiled information before coming back to present what he learned to the Chehalis Rotary Club.
The Leathers company, a facilitator for the project that from the beginning, knew it would take second seat to the community in this task.
According to Small, Leathers playgrounds are uniquely designed to suit the particular needs and dreams of the children who will use them. It is the children who helped design Chehalis' playground.
"It's all laid out very specifically — you have to play their game," said Small.
From the beginning of the project, "A corporation was formed, a non-profit status acquired and a board of directors assembled from service organizations and interested community leaders. Chairpersons were placed in positions to best use their areas of expertise. I feel that the choice of these chairpeople greatly contributed to the success of this project," continued Small.
Initially, the Penny Playground Association board meetings were held every week.
"We met every Tuesday, and we never had less than 100 percent attendance. We saw more of each other than our families," Small said with a laugh.
"An intense nine months followed — collecting money, educating the community on the type of playground it was to be, and instilling a pride of ownership in each person involved," she continued. "Money was collected, in large part through change and pennies from everyone. Thus the name 'Penny Playground' was selected."
Impressively, the playground was constructed from April 28 to May 2 by more than 2,000 people putting in more than 8,000 hours, including children.
"This was a great project and we raised the money by the penny — literally by the penny," said Lesa LeDuc, a board member for the Penny Playground Association.
In just three days, for example, the Chehalis Middle School pupils raised $1,200 in pennies.
"The involvement of the children, school, the public in general and the city of Chehalis was awesome to behold," Small said. "Once you get the kids excited, they get their moms, dads, grandma and grandpa excited."
Bobbye Pennington, a consumer lender and personal banker at Sterling Savings Bank in Chehalis, also serves on the Penny Playground Association board.
She laughs when she tells of the bank's coin counting machine being "burned out" owing to the number of coins collected, and recalls the playground prior to the reconstruction.
Some corporate sponsors were involved in the project. The Ronald McDonald Children's Charities of Western Washington and Weyerhaeuser Foundation each gave $5,000, and the city of Chehalis contributed about $6,000. But those involved agree that the majority of the more than $120,000 collected came from the community.
With a goal of $80,000, even the organizers were surprised at the amount actually brought in.
"I was scared to death we wouldn't even raise the $80,000," said Small.
"It was the best fund-raiser," said LeDuc.
"We put barrels out that looked like wishing wells," she continued, "and little old ladies would drive up and shake the contents of their purses into the barrels. This project was so homegrown that people just really wanted to give us money. But at first there were a lot of skeptics."
Apparently the skeptics were quieted after seeing that the project had caught fire in the hearts and minds of the community.
Small said, "You couldn't go anywhere without hearing about it."
Actually, one could go few places in Chehalis without seeing posters, collection barrels, or people wearing pink shorts with "Penny Playground" emblazoned upon them.
When the time came to begin building the playground, residents turned out in droves even though the weather was awful and the grounds muddy. None of this appeared to dampen the spirits of those taking part in the construction of the playground.
"It was really nasty weather," recalls Pennington, "but people from the community, who worked on the project, found it so much fun in spite of the weather."
"We were all ready to drop afterwards," said Small, "But the sun came out on Sunday for the ribbon cutting."
Once completed, Penny Playground was valued at $280,000. Board members continue to meet occasionally to discuss repairs and upkeep, and the board uses the money collected in excess of the $80,000 goal to accomplish that.
It costs, said Small, a minimum of $8,000 a year to seal the wood at the playground.
Board members and volunteers are proud of what their community accomplished in such a short time.
"It was (built by) a core of dedicated people who made this dream a reality," said Small.
"It's not like a city park — it's like the people's park," said Pennington, who, when driving home nightly, still looks in the direction of the playground to see how many children are using the equipment, while recalling all the fun and effort it took to build it.
Like the ball field in the movie "Field of Dreams," Chehalis residents and their neighbors built a playground and believed "If we build it, they will come." And they did.
No ceremony is planned in recognition of this 10-year anniversary, but board members plan to display balloons at Penny Playground in recognition of that project's completion.
Pat Jones covers arts and entertainment and lifestyle stories for The Chronicle. She may be reached by e-mail at pjones@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8226.
