(Greensburg, IN) – Groundbreaking was held Thursday for the Building Bridges Inclusion Park in Greensburg.
The 17,500-square-foot playscape in Rebekah Park will allow children of all abilities to play together.
The idea of establishing an inclusion park in Greensburg came to retired Police Chief and current Greensburg Community School Corporation Public Safety Director Brendan Bridges after he took his son Jaxon, who is autistic and non-verbal, to an inclusion park in Cincinnati in 2019 and decided it was time to build a similar venue in Greensburg.
“What I saw there was a true inclusion by other kids his age and a little bit older, who were actually standing aside and letting Jaxon go in front of them and helping him with the equipment as I just stood back as a proud father and watched that,” Bridges said.
After returning from the park, he approached the City of Greensburg and then-Mayor Dan Manus and requested to establish an inclusive playground in Greensburg.
The project was formally announced in 2020 with further support from Mayor Joshua Marsh and City Council.
Funds for the park were raised through a Patronicity matching grant campaign with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Spaces program.
Support and donations were also received from the City of Greensburg, Greensburg Redevelopment Commission, Decatur County, First Financial Bank, the Leona Hahn Charitable Trust, Centerpoint Energy, the Decatur County Community Foundation, Disability, and Autism Services of Indiana (DASI), Greensburg Optimist Club, and Greensburg Rotary.The Building Bridges Inclusion Park was also included in the Accelerate Rural Indiana (ARI) Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) project list, which provided the park with $250,000.
ARI was awarded $20 million of READI funding, the highest per capita READI award in the state.
“Today’s project is one that has been in the making for several years. It is completely funded by the generosity of different organizations and members of our community,” said Mayor Joshua Marsh.
Those who spoke at the groundbreaking were Marsh; Bridges; Megan Miller with Miracle Playgrounds; Meagan Heber with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority; Decatur County Community Foundation Executive Director Tami Wenning; Decatur County Parks Director Teresa Kovacich, and Greensburg/Decatur County Economic Development Director Bryan Robbins on behalf of Accelerate Rural Indiana/READI.
The seven speakers took part in the ceremonial groundbreaking (pictured) at the end of the program.
More information on the project can be found by visiting https://greensburginclusionpark.org/ or by searching Decatur Co/Greensburg, In Inclusion Park on Facebook.The Building Bridges Inclusion Park is slated to open to the public this fall.
