Five months ago, Melissa Grassmick began to wonder why there wasn’t a playground in West Kelowna that was accessible for her daughter Julia.
Julia was paralyzed from the waist down by a blood clot in her spine when she was just 17 months old. Since then, the seven-year-old uses a manual wheelchair but is a girl who wants to have fun and burn off energy like anyone else.
Other playgrounds in the West Kelowna area use ramps and have wood chips or rocks for surfacing, that make movement in a wheelchair extremely difficult.
“Right now, there is not one playground that Julia can access with her wheelchair,” Grassmick told KelownaNow. “It’s not just Julia, it is other kids in her position who use a variety of different mobility devices, but it’s also parents who might use a wheelchair that wants to take his/her able-bodied kids to a playground.”
In October of 2021, Grassmick sent an email out to a parks manager about the feasibility of a new playground. From then, the idea for Julia’s Junction was born.
It’s named, of course, after her daughter.
“She’s been talking about it with her friends at school and I think she’s gonna love it,” Grassmick explained. “She is excited to have her name attached to it.”
The project's goal is to ensure that no child in West Kelowna or surrounding areas is excluded from play as a result of a physical, cognitive, emotional or social disability.
“There’s approximately 5,500 people in West Kelowna who have a disability,” said Grassmick. “Then, when you include families and friends of those people, it's close to 17,000 who could benefit from a fully inclusive and accessible play space.”
The location chosen for the project is at the Westbank Town Centre Park. The Kids Care Spray Park is also situated there, presenting the perfect spot for Julia’s Junction to be built.
The project will cost an estimated $750,000, with the bulk of the funds going towards the surfacing, which is estimated to cost $200,000.
“It’s called unitary surfacing. Which is basically all the same, levelled surface,” Grassmick explained. “It’s not just wheelchairs that need that, a child with visual impairment, they need to know the ground is not going to be changing.”
So far, the project has raised $200,000, and has been the recipient of some large donations, including $75,000 from Gorman Bros. Lumber.
“That’s incredible for one company to do that,” Grassmick noted. “Really, we’ve only started fundraising the second week of January, when we got approval for the project.”
The proposed playground project was unanimously passed by council in a Jan. 11 meeting, with the city donating $75,000 for this fiscal year. There is potential for another $125,000 to be donated next year.
“I strongly support it,” Councillor Doug Findlater told KelownaNow. “I think it is a great addition to the community, and it’s tailor-made to be accessible to all kinds of disabilities.”
Grassmick’s dedication to the project has impressed Councillor Rick de Jong, especially with how fast the project has snowballed since its inception.
“I stand in awe and wonder and applaud Melissa for standing beside her daughter for the work she is doing,'' de Jong said to KelownaNow. “Good on her for rallying a strong, talented team of individuals within her committee. The work she is doing to make it a reality for her daughter deserves a standing ovation.”
The hope is that the project will be complete by late spring of 2023, so that it can be enjoyed by all in the summer months.
“I just hope that everyone will get as excited about it as I am,” Grassmick said. “Even if people can’t financially donate, even just spreading the word helps.”
For more information about the project, please click this link. If you want to donate, please click here. All donations are tax deductible.
