GloucesterTimes.com, Gloucester, MA

News

All children can get into the swing

Rockport playground accessible to handicapped

By Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Staff Writer
Published: November 19, 2008

ROCKPORT — Amelia Grace Young loved to swing, the higher the better.

Amelia's unbridled joy when she visited playgrounds inspired her parents, Julie and Scott Young, to raise money to purchase and donate a handicap-accessible playground to Rockport Elementary School in honor of their late daughter.

Julie Young's mother, Kathy Heinze, said working on the playground has carried her daughter and son-in-law through the last couple of years since Amelia died from a seizure at the age of 10.

"(Julie) threw herself into this (project) as a way of coping. She just wants people to acknowledge Amelia and to show people how much they loved her," Heinze said yesterday. "I think the playground is fitting for Amelia; when you would put her on a swing, the unmitigated joy on the child's face was something that tickled you and you carried that all day long."

For the past two years, the Youngs have saved their own money and held fund-raisers toward the purchase and installation of the $300,000 playground, specially designed for children with and without disabilities.

"She loved to fly high in the sky, I think she enjoyed that feeling of losing her tummy," Julie Young said yesterday. "Even as a baby, the breeze would pick up and, when she got the breeze on her face, you would've sworn that breeze was just for her."

The Youngs brought Amelia to the elementary school playground on a regular basis, but there wasn't much she could do by herself. She enjoyed swinging, but most of the time she sat and watched, Young said.

Following their daughter's death in December 2006, the Youngs decided to donate the playground to the school as a way of thanking the school district "for all the support given to Amelia".

"It's kind of surreal and melancholy," Young said of the project's completion. "I wonder what I'll do with my time now."

The playground, known as "Amelia Grace Place," was built behind Rockport Elementary School over the past two weeks. While the structure is done, the playground will remain closed until a protective surface is poured and students are shown how to safely use the equipment.

Young said playgrounds, like classrooms, are places of learning.

"The kids learn a lot of lessons, like how to be kind, how to compromise, and negotiate," Young said. "They also learn acceptance of others and that people are different; the earlier in life you can learn that lesson the better."

The Youngs opted to donate a generous amount of their own money to expedite the purchase and installation of the playground so their children Nate, 10, and Anna, 6, could play on the playground memorializing their sister.

"I can't thank the Young family enough for what they are doing for us as a whole," Elementary School Principal Shawn Maguire said yesterday. "It's a noble gesture and inclusive for not just our children but for all (Cape Ann) children; you cannot mask the excitement of not just the students, but the staff, parents and myself.

"Everything is state of the art, the newest and most cutting-edge playground equipment there is," Maguire added. "The great thing about this playground is there's a level for everyone, no matter who you are, to participate and play on."

Before this playground, made by Miracle Recreation Equipment Co. and installed by Site Specifics of Rochester, there was not a playground facility anywhere on Cape Ann accessible to handicapped children.

Playground contractor Cindy Maak said yesterday the structure, with a ramp leading to a tower 8-feet high, is the tallest handicap-accessible play structure in Massachusetts and possibly New England.

The playground has a 100-year limited warranty.

Though she was unable to talk, Amelia was able to communicate her love for those closest to her through an abundance of hugs, hugs her grandfather, Rockport Selectman Andrew Heinze, misses every day.

"Andy was closest to Amelia," Kathy, his wife, said. "It was a big loss for everybody, but they were tight, best buds and (Andy) felt like he lost his best friend."

Amelia had Angelman syndrome, a rare condition caused by the loss of the mother's contribution to a chromosome or by a single-gene mutation. It's not a disease, but a neurogenetic disorder, for which there is no cure.

Amelia's little brother Nate named the playground Amelia Grace Place and was quoted as telling family members after her death that Amelia taught him how to love.

"I think she did that for everyone," Kathy Heinze said.

Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.

Photos