Logan Brockway, a third-grader at Toledo Our Lady of Perpetual Help, sells lemonade at his parish rummage sale to raise money to build a new school playground. (Photo courtesy of Toledo Our Lady of Perpetual Help School)

Hanna Hagerman, a member of the playground focus group, is excited about the developments because she believes the mission is one of necessity rather than luxury. Without a playground, the students have been limited to playing on the asphalt parking lot surrounding their school.

“When kids have no place to play, they have no release of physical energy, which leads to further behavioral, social and health problems,” she says. “Kids need things to be active during recess so they can come back to the building and focus on their school work.”

For Mrs. Hagerman, this development is a step in the right direction for happy, healthier and smarter kids.

Plans began in May and the school is already more than halfway to its goal of $40,000 to build the playground, which will be installed in two phases beginning as early as fall 2008.

The fundraising efforts had help from Logan Brockway, a third-grader at OLPH who organized a lemonade stand at the parish rummage sale during the summer.

Logan asked for and received a donation of cups and lemons for the three-day stand from Packo’s at the Park restaurant in Toledo, and he also solicited donations from OLPH teachers. He and his friends raised $150 for the playground with their lemonade sales.

The design for the playground also came from the students of OLPH, who took surveys to share which features they wanted.

“The first things kids wanted was a climbing wall,” says Mrs. Hagerman. Requests also included swings, slides, monkey bars and gymnastic bars. Other features include benches, picnic tables and grassy areas for kids to play.

The OLPH playground will be named the Jeanne Hickey Memorial Playground, in appreciation of a generous donation offered by the Jeanne Hickey Memorial Fund.