A mother’s goal to update the playground at her daughter’s school was accomplished last week with the installation of $50,000 worth of equipment.
Stephanie Kurek spearheaded the St. Anthony School fundraising project that spanned four years and resulted in a playground full of colorful and inviting equipment for climbing, swinging, sliding and imagining.
“It’ll be good for them. It’s safer,” Kurek said.
“If they want to see some of the newest and coolest stuff, this will be a fun place to visit,” said Vern Lee, owner of Lee Recreation, of Cambridge, which supplied the equipment that about 20 volunteers helped install last week.
“The other stuff worked well over the years, but it was falling apart,” Kurek said. “We needed to get them something safer to play on. It was outdated.”
Kurek began her quest for a new playground after she and her husband, Steve, enrolled their daughter, Lily, at St. Anthony Catholic School. Lily will enter fourth grade this fall. The family also has a first-grader, Katelyn, and a younger daughter, Emma.
Kurek met with Principal Rosie Marifke, and the planning started.
According to Kurek, the first donation came from St. Patrick’s Parish, Stiles, for $10,000. It was a great start, but not enough for the make-over she envisioned.
“This equipment is fairly expensive. What can you get for 10 grand? Well, you can’t get very much,” Kurek said.
She met with Lee Recreation and developed a plan for a playground that would cost $25,000, then approached ST Paper, Oconto Falls, which donated $15,000 for the project.
“It got me excited,” she said. But she still wasn’t satisfied.
“So I contacted Lee Recreation again, and they drew me up a $50,000 playground, and I said, ‘Well, that’s my goal,’” she said.
Donations from organizations, businesses, parish members and individuals helped her meet that goal, including a $15,000 donation in memory of Katherine Gondeck from a family member who attended St. Anthony School.
As she watched the playground take shape around her last week, Kurek finally saw the pay-off for what she called years of “gruntwork.”
“Low and behold, here we are. Ripping out the old and putting in the new,” she said. “It’s just something I believed in.”
Volunteers worked a full day on July 29 and finished installing equipment on the morning of July 30.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the people who donated and the people who showed up today to install it,” Kurek said. “They all believe in it just as much as I do. They all see the need.”
Lee said the volunteers were “totally unbelievable. The best we’ve had in a long time. Stephanie did an amazing job of organizing.”
The spreading of wood chips was the final task to complete before the playground was ready for use.
Lee said playground equipment, such as the school bus on springs and the rock tunnel, provide a place for imaginative play for young kids, ages 2 to 5. The rocks walls, climbing net and ladders in the playground help kids develop strength and agility as they move up and across the pieces.
Amanda Jahnke, a St. Anthony first-grader, couldn’t hide her enthusiasm as she watched the volunteers at work.
“They’re putting the swings up. Look at me! I get to swing,” she said.
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