LAUREL - A $1,700 piece of playground equipment was damaged earlier in the week at the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church Preschool.
Broken pieces of wood and other hardware make the structure irreparable.
Former students sold lemonade to raise money to replace the playground equipment.
“All the money goes towards the new playground,” said 11-year-old Macie Blankenship.
Macie Blankenship came back to the preschool she once attended and she has a special memory and connection to the equipment.
“Yeah. Well, me and my dad built it together,” said Macie Blankenship. “We built it not long ago.”
Macie joined the other kids after one of the parents came up with the idea for the lemonade stand.
“She was actually part of the class that fundraised for that playground that got destroyed in Tuesday's wind event,” said Anna Blankenship. “And so her daughter wanted to do something to give back to her preschool.”
Anna Blankenship is Macie’s mom and the preschool's director and a pre-kindergarten teacher.
“I have been overwhelmed by the number of phone calls,” said Anna Blankenship. “What can we do? Can we get rid of the (damaged) playground for you? Can we clean it up? We can come help rebuild it once we get something new in.”
The preschool held an open house on Thursday night and that gave some of the families a chance to see what the school means to the children.
“Yeah, I thought it was a pretty cool idea,” said Travis Keller, who will have a daughter attending the pre-school. “I hope they can raise enough money to get some more playground equipment.”
“Past preschool family members, new families coming in that are willing to give,” Anna Blankenship said. “And it has just been a blessing.”
Blankenship says the school has already received about $930 in donations and anticipates that the kids will see the new equipment soon.
“I'm hoping by the end of next week to have an even bigger, better play set ordered and on its way,” Blankenship said.
