Next time you’re at the Wallingford Playfield or Meridian Park, you’ll notice a a bright cheery, yellow addition to the swings. The Fremont Rotary Club has donated one ADA accessible swing for each park that are designed for kids with special needs. The donation is part of the Fremont Rotary’s “Yellow Swing Campaign” of which a total of four swings were donated to local playgrounds.
The Fremont Rotary aligned themselves with the “Seattle Children’s Playgarden” organization which serves to provide children with special needs access to both indoor and outdoor recreation space. It’s the organization’s goal to provide every park in Seattle with the yellow ADA accessible swings, and so far, 90 have been installed citywide. If you’ve been to the Green Lake playground, you might have noticed the big red swings, which are similar, just, you know, red.
When I went to the Wallingford Playfield this morning to snap a picture, a Dad was pushing his daughter on the new yellow swing. After I told him about the project and got his permission to photograph the swing with his daughter, he commented that there weren’t any straps to hold children in place. According to the Fremont Rotary, “there is a harness strap that can be outfitted for the ADA ‘Yellow Swings’, but is not included on location at all playgrounds with the swings.” So this is something to be aware of when supervising small children on the swing. Nevertheless, my “model” was gleefully basking in the early spring sunshine, with sunglasses on and a smile on her face!
Incidentally, while we know your loyalties lie within Wallingford, the Fremont Rotary meets every Tuesday night at 5:30 at Hales Brewery. Phil Greely, who forwarded us the information has a standing offer for any Wallyhood reader to be his guest, just send him an email. Plus, Rotarians and guests can enjoy $2 beers!