Contruction nears on Kiwanis’ inclusive playground

LUMBERTON — The Kiwanis Club of Robeson-Lumberton’s project to build an inclusive playground at the Dr. Raymond B. Pennington Athletic Complex will soon enter the construction phase, as project partners gathered Tuesday at the site to go over plans for each facet of the facility’s construction.

The Kiwanis Club of Robeson-Lumberton set out to build the playground as a community service project to commemorate the club’s 100th anniversary this year.

Initial plans were to raise $500,000, but fundraising efforts far exceeded that total, leading to an expanded scope of the project but also a slight delay in construction as the club and its partners revised site plans. Approximately $840,000 has now been raised for the project.

“We’re delayed because we made a lot of progress,” said Tim Little, a past club president who is helping lead the project. “It’s a much better, bigger project than we set out to do, and that just took a little longer, but quality always does. We’re excited to be exactly where we are, even if we have a ribbon cutting in October — that’s when it’s supposed to be.”

Kiwanis officials initially anticipated a completion date this summer before the project was expanded. Initial plans were for a 5,500-square-foot facility; it will now be 10,000 square feet.

Nearly all the equipment at the playground will be wheelchair-accessible and ADA-compliant, while the venue will also be tailored for children with autism and other sensory disorders.

Playworld Preferred will build and install the playground equipment and will also construct the rubber surface on which the playground will sit. Other aspects of the project will be completed by other partners, including the City of Lumberton Public Works Department, Barnhill Contracting, MV&P Fencing, Sutton Concrete and Anderson Engineering.

“They’re looking for an inclusive playground for the community, so they approached us and we came up with a couple of designs that they liked, and had agreed to a plan,” said Mike Clifton, representing Playground Preferred. “The fundraising that they did just continued and continued, so they had more money to use, and so they approached us again and said ‘what more can we do with X amount of dollars. So we went back to the grassroots, redesigned everything and came up with a brand new design for them.”

The immediate next step is for the city’s Public Works Department to pave a parking lot being constructed adjacent to the site, which sits near between the football and soccer field and the existing main parking lot at the northwest corner of the park. They will begin paving that lot as soon as the site dries out from recent rain, according to Jeff Halliburton, street superintendent with the city’s Public Works Department.

Once the parking lot is complete, the playground equipment will be brought in and installed. The scheduled shipment date for that is currently Sept. 4, Clifton said, though that is subject to change; once it arrives it will take about three to four weeks to lay the equipment.

Fence posts will then be installed, before concrete curbing is constructed, then the rubber floor of the playground space will be laid, which takes about one week. After that, fence wiring will be installed, and lastly the surrounding sidewalks will be built.

Clifton anticipates the project could be completed by about late October, though this is weather-permitting and if there are no additional delays.

“We don’t want to skimp on any quality or anything in the process,” Kiwanis Club of Robeson-Lumberton President Lee Scott said. “We want to have an amazing venue. … It’s nice for the community to believe in us and trust us to make it a better place.”

Kiwanis officials began the planning process in the fall of 2022, and began a fundraising effort around the beginning of 2024.

Funds have come from a variety of community sources, including both government and corporate donations.

“A lot of folks have just stepped up and written a check,” Little said. “It’s amazing.”

One source of fundraising that the Kiwanians are proud of is a “past presidents’ initiative,” in which past presidents of the club have grouped together to give donations, raising about $5,000.

“The past presidents’ initiative was an unexpected enhancement,” Scott said. “We had a member who decided to reach out to past presidents of the club and their family members, and really got a good amount of movement there, and just word of mouth, sharing on social media.”

Even as the project is expected to be completed this fall, Little says that won’t be the end of the Kiwanis Club’s involvement at the site.

“We plan for it to be ongoing,” Little said. “We don’t want to build it and leave; we’ll be looking for ways to continue to serve this community through this site.”

Plans are for the existing playground on the other end of the Pennington Complex to remain in place and open.