Jacksonville, AR School Playground
Tax deductible
Playground for Little Minds, Hearts, and Bodies
Hello, my name is Rachel Flinchum and I am the mother of two scholars that attend Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School. My family lives in Jacksonville, Arkansas. My sons are 9 and 8. I have seen compassion and dedication being given to every student who goes there and they have been a blessing in our lives. The school currently has almost 400 students enrolled in grades K-6.
Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School serves a community that has a median estimated per capital income average of $21,726 (source: http://www.city-data.com/city/Jacksonville-Arkansas.html). We are not a wealthy community, but we are rich in diversity and in our community support. It is one of the things I love most about this city.
The current playground has one piece of equipment, a covered area for picnic tables, and a concrete pad for the children to use during recess. Since the playground was installed, the school has grown, but the playground hasn’t. The school doesn’t have the funds. The parents of the students give so much to the school, but this is beyond just us.
The playground is something I have had my eye on for several years. My boys come home and talk about how the one piece of equipment is played on by so many children. It discourages them from enjoying themselves or even using the equipment at all. The school has done a great job of making recess a rewarding experience for the children, but there is only so much you can do when there isn’t enough equipment for the number of children.
I want our children playing. I want them enriched and exercised. I want these children to have the playground memories I had when I was a child. My most vivid memories are from the pieces of equipment that I had to play on and the friendships I formed playing on them.
This isn’t just for the children at Jacksonville Lighthouse. This playground is open for anyone to use when school is not in session. It is a resource to the city that can help all the children.
Since I started talking about wanting to do this, I have gotten great support but also a healthy measure of disbelief. “But Rachel, it is so much money.” “What if we fail?” “How can we shoot for something as expensive as this?” And it is true. It is a lot of money. Especially here in Jacksonville. But my heart, my heart, has whispered over and over again that we have to try. If I fail, let me fail having tried. But I don’t think I will fail. Because I am not going to stop. If it takes 6 months, if it takes 3 years. I will find a way to fulfill this need for our school and the community.
I know there are people who can help. People in our community, people around the world. People who only have to know of the need. Even if it is just a few dollars. I know the value of a few dollars.
We gathered quotes from different certified companies and have a very good idea of what the best price is for equipment and installation.
Please consider our fundraiser as an option for you. Any help you can provide will make a huge impact in our community and in the lives of our children. You will be helping to get our children playing, and exercising, and enriching their minds through all the adventures they will have. You will also be helping to show our children what it looks like to support a community and to see what amazing goals we can accomplish by not being afraid to fail.
The money we raise will go 100% to the needs listed here. We would like to spend as much as $60,000 on the equipment. That would be including the cost of the main piece of equipment with installation and rubber mats to place over our concrete pad area to protect our children from the concrete when they accidentally fall. Any other amount between the final cost of these two things and the $60,000 would go towards smaller individual units or picnic tables for our covered area. If we raised more than the $60,000, $2000 would go towards buying books for our school library. Anything past that mark would be donated to the City of Jacksonville to be used for the facilities of other community playgrounds in the city.
Current playground servicing almost 400 children.
Example of Size and Scope of Equipment we want to purchase.
Rubber mats we want to purchase to cover our concrete pad to help protect our children when they fall.
Hello, my name is Rachel Flinchum and I am the mother of two scholars that attend Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School. My family lives in Jacksonville, Arkansas. My sons are 9 and 8. I have seen compassion and dedication being given to every student who goes there and they have been a blessing in our lives. The school currently has almost 400 students enrolled in grades K-6.
Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School serves a community that has a median estimated per capital income average of $21,726 (source: http://www.city-data.com/city/Jacksonville-Arkansas.html). We are not a wealthy community, but we are rich in diversity and in our community support. It is one of the things I love most about this city.
The current playground has one piece of equipment, a covered area for picnic tables, and a concrete pad for the children to use during recess. Since the playground was installed, the school has grown, but the playground hasn’t. The school doesn’t have the funds. The parents of the students give so much to the school, but this is beyond just us.
The playground is something I have had my eye on for several years. My boys come home and talk about how the one piece of equipment is played on by so many children. It discourages them from enjoying themselves or even using the equipment at all. The school has done a great job of making recess a rewarding experience for the children, but there is only so much you can do when there isn’t enough equipment for the number of children.
I want our children playing. I want them enriched and exercised. I want these children to have the playground memories I had when I was a child. My most vivid memories are from the pieces of equipment that I had to play on and the friendships I formed playing on them.
This isn’t just for the children at Jacksonville Lighthouse. This playground is open for anyone to use when school is not in session. It is a resource to the city that can help all the children.
Since I started talking about wanting to do this, I have gotten great support but also a healthy measure of disbelief. “But Rachel, it is so much money.” “What if we fail?” “How can we shoot for something as expensive as this?” And it is true. It is a lot of money. Especially here in Jacksonville. But my heart, my heart, has whispered over and over again that we have to try. If I fail, let me fail having tried. But I don’t think I will fail. Because I am not going to stop. If it takes 6 months, if it takes 3 years. I will find a way to fulfill this need for our school and the community.
I know there are people who can help. People in our community, people around the world. People who only have to know of the need. Even if it is just a few dollars. I know the value of a few dollars.
We gathered quotes from different certified companies and have a very good idea of what the best price is for equipment and installation.
Please consider our fundraiser as an option for you. Any help you can provide will make a huge impact in our community and in the lives of our children. You will be helping to get our children playing, and exercising, and enriching their minds through all the adventures they will have. You will also be helping to show our children what it looks like to support a community and to see what amazing goals we can accomplish by not being afraid to fail.
The money we raise will go 100% to the needs listed here. We would like to spend as much as $60,000 on the equipment. That would be including the cost of the main piece of equipment with installation and rubber mats to place over our concrete pad area to protect our children from the concrete when they accidentally fall. Any other amount between the final cost of these two things and the $60,000 would go towards smaller individual units or picnic tables for our covered area. If we raised more than the $60,000, $2000 would go towards buying books for our school library. Anything past that mark would be donated to the City of Jacksonville to be used for the facilities of other community playgrounds in the city.
Current playground servicing almost 400 children.
Example of Size and Scope of Equipment we want to purchase.
Rubber mats we want to purchase to cover our concrete pad to help protect our children when they fall.
Organizer
Rachel Flinchum
Organizer
Jacksonville, AR
Lighthouse Academies of Arkansas Inc
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
