Place to Play
MIDDLESEX TWP — For years Holy Sepulcher School, 6515 Old Route 8 North, has lacked playground equipment for its 171 students.
“I was a student there and we never had a playground. We played in the parking lot. I have the scars on my knees,” said Amanda Beyer-Pulliam of Mars, who with Allison Stickney of Butler headed a two-year fundraising effort and a team of volunteers who corrected that deficiency July 20. The new equipment will be officially dedicated Sunday.
“They didn't replace old equipment. We haven't had any here in 20 years,” said Kristine Marsico, the advancement director at the school.
Sister Anna Marie Gaglia, the principal, said the playground items cost $28,000 and were purchased from Jeffrey Associates of Indianola.
The new structures include two tetherballs, six swings, a climbing wall, a chin-up bar, two benches and two picnic tables.
“It was paid for through fundraising, and we received a $10,000 grant from the Vein Institute of Pittsburgh in Wexford,” said Gaglia.
Beyer-Pulliam is an administrator at the Vein Institute and said she persuaded her employer to make a donation to the cause.
“They have funds that support a number of nonprofits. So we requested some funds from them,” said Marsico. “That $10,000 gave us the impetus to raise the rest of the money.”
The labor was free but intensive, said Gaglia. A group of 30 parent volunteers organized by Beyer-Pulliam and Stickney assembled the playground starting at 8 a.m.
“It was all in boxes. They had to take the parts out and organize them,” said Marisco.
“We had a lot of different parents and we were lucky to have a lot of builders and carpenters,” said Beyer-Pulliam.
The night before the holes for the equipment supports had been drilled by Eric Mockenhaupt of EMC Construction of Mars. Marsico said the assembly was done by 2 p.m. and then the holes were filled with cement. Volunteers spent the next three hours spreading wood mulch.
“Rubberized mulch was too expensive, way more than wood mulch and it has to be replaced just as often as wood mulch,” Marsico said.
Although the playground is set up, work at the site isn't complete.
Marsico said parents can buy stepping stones of various sizes for various prices to be placed in a border. She said 20 have been sold so far.
And, Gaglia said, there will be Sunday's dedication.
“We will have it after the 10:30 a.m. Mass. It will be blessed,” Gaglia said. “We'll need to think of a name for it.”
