- Video shows new playground coming to Zorinsky Lake
- Spina Bifida is a birth defect that affects movement.
- The new playground will be accessible to children with disabilities. A group of parents is helping to fund the playground.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Families taking action for their children.
I'm West Omaha reporter John Brown at Zorinsky Lake where a group of Omaha moms is now working to create a park where their kids can play despite their disabilities.
Lauren Citro has two children, one with Spina Bifida. She says something that should be easy and fun like going to the park isn't so simple.
"With young kids, it just felt impossible," Citro said. "We would spend longer in the car than we would at the playground. So, it was just frustrating. I know our family couldn't be the only one."
She is working with Kelly Henry-Turner to raise an inclusive playground at Zorinsky Lake.
Plans for the nearly 10,000 square foot play space will include accessible ramps, a wheelchair accessible swing and more. Some money is coming from the city; these moms are raising the rest.
Playgrounds like these are important because without them some kids are left out.
Henry-Turner's daughter has down syndrome.
"She also has a hearing impairment. Just being around other kids and not having the spacial awareness was a challenge for her to be on regular playgrounds with large groups of children," she said.
Currently, fundraising efforts are at $1.1 million. They need $200,000 more to reach their $1.3 million goal.
"This has been a five year process. It started off a little slow. Mostly because of flooding that was in the area. Then the pandemic, but we really hit our stride recently thanks to a lot of grants being awarded by local foundations," Citro said.
When it's done, it will make a big difference in West Omaha because the five accessible playgrounds are all east of 84th Street.
"We hope to take advantage of it frequently. I think the west developments, there are many many more kids. We run into children all the time who have different special needs that will benefit from all of the different aspects of this," Henry-Turner said.
To help fundraise, the moms are having a holiday lights drive thru at the lake. It's free and runs 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. through Saturday.
Construction is expected to begin next spring.
