Volunteers, donations needed to replace homeless shelter play
equipment with safer models
The slides and swings are gone from the playground at the
county’s homeless shelter, but residents should rest assured that
the lack of entertainment for children will last only as long as it
takes to raise money to finish a new one.
Volunteers, donations needed to replace homeless shelter play equipment with safer models
The slides and swings are gone from the playground at the county’s homeless shelter, but residents should rest assured that the lack of entertainment for children will last only as long as it takes to raise money to finish a new one.
New safety regulations have forced removal of the playground, originally donated by McDonalds, because of sharp edges, metal bars and hard-packed gravel under the playthings.
Now the Community Services Development Corporation is attempting to raise $5,000 to go with the $45,000 it already has to create a new and safer area for children to play. Already, the old playthings have been torn out and a new concrete foundation is in.
Located off Hospital Road near the county planning department, the shelter serves more than 30 families and about 90 children each year. The cost of replacing the playground and abiding by new safety standards was not in the CSDC budget.
“The wood chips alone are going to cost us $5,000,” said Brian Abbott, executive director of the CSDC.
The centerpiece for the playground will be a 10-foot Victorian-style playhouse with a garden. Volunteers from the local chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction will be swinging hammers to create the unique structure designed to help both the children and the female carpenters.
“We wanted to teach women how to build things or create things on their own and not think their husbands have to do it.” Niessa Bauder-Guaracha, vice-president of the NAWC’s local chapter.
To this end, an instructor from Hartnell College in Salinas will give the women a quick course in how to build a playhouse to code. Bauder-Guaracha is happy to be helping out because she knows from her past experience raising funds for a new playground in San Juan Bautista how emotional it is for families to watch the old one removed.
“We came over with a crew and pulled it out,” Bauder-Guaracha said. “There were little children just in all these places just staring out the window. It was the saddest thing. (The parents) came out and asked us ‘why are you taking this away from us?'”
The project should be finished by the end of January provided all the funding can be found. The playhouse should be completed by March. CSDC’s staff and a subcontractor are installing the new playground equipment.
San Benito County’s homeless population is nearly invisible, said Abbott. He said a recent estimate pegged the county’s homeless population at 4,000 people.
Unlike homeless people often do in big cities, they don’t put their belongings in shopping carts and push them down the street. Often they are people squeezed financially who can’t make the rent.
Most have low-paying minimum-wage jobs or they’re disabled. Often the county has a waiting list because so many people need a place to stay, Abbott said. The 16-unit mobile home shelter is open year-round. Families can stay for a maximum of six months.
“Most of them are San Benito County residents,” he said. “Most of the homeless people, they’re sleeping in cars, or moving from home to home staying with friends.”
The community pantry provides groceries twice a month. A case manager helps them get their lives in order, the biggest piece of which is usually getting together enough money to rent an apartment.
The playground, he said, helps children endure the stressful process.
Anyone wishing to donate money to the CSDC to help build the playground may call 636-5524. Anyone wishing to help National Women in Construction build the playhouse may call 636-1517.
