COLONIE – Where Angels Play and the South Colonie Central School District announced new details about the building of an all-ability playground in honor of Charlie Fernandez, an elementary school student who passed away from neuroblastoma.
The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism linked up with Where Angels Play through their mutual sponsor, Jersey Mike’s Subs. The Foundation is going to provide special needs panels for the playground so that children on the spectrum are accommodated.
“We at the Flutie Foundation are honored to be a part of the great project, in honor of Charlie Fernandez. We believe that all children of all ability levels deserve the right to play in an inclusive setting with their peers. We are excited that this playground will bring this vision to reality,” said Nick Savarese who serves as executive director of the Flutie Foundation.
In addition, the ribbon cutting will be on Saturday, June 17 and the build will take place during the days leading up to that date. Volunteers will be needed. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Sarah Norton at [email protected].
To date, over $102,000 has been raised. The team is still raising money and will provide that to the organization Where Angels Play for future playgrounds to be built.
“Our school district community is thrilled to be able to provide a playground of this nature to the children of the Capital Region in honor of our beloved student, Charlie. We are so thankful for the support our families and friends are providing,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Perry.
In addition to the Flutie Foundation, major sponsors who have joined this mission include Broadview Federal Credit Union, Hannaford and the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region.
The Where Angels Play Foundation was founded and its first tribute initiative “The Sandy Ground Project” was completed in just 18 months. Twenty-six playgrounds were constructed along the coast of three states and built by firefighters, police officers, teachers, school administrators and community volunteers. Each playground reflects the personality of the teacher or child for whom it is named and the project had unanimous approval and blessings of all 26 families.
These very same Newtown families have chosen to “pay it forward” by helping to continue our initiative to build playgrounds in needy communities across the country.
More information about the organization can be found here: https://whereangelsplayfoundation.org/.
