An extraordinary playground is affectionately known to the children, just as ‘Get Out and Play,’ and which was a treasured part of the Arizona Recreation Center for the Handicapped or ARCH for short was tragically burned by a fire after hours on Monday evening. Staff, as well as campers, showed up on June 4th, 2018 to open the season officially on Tuesday and made the awful discovery of finding the playground charred and destroyed by flames. What did cause the fire is unknown at this moment in time.
‘Get Out and Play’ encouraged children with disabilities to get out and do physical activity.
The playground will be sadly missed by all those happy camper kids who loved to go there for fun and recreation. The ‘Get Out and Play’ playground was all about playing of the best kind. Because it was here, boys and girls with special needs, were able to get together for all the best reasons. These best reasons are no other than good health, exercise, play, and of course beautiful well being.
The ‘Get Out and Play’ Playground was built with the purpose to give purpose to disabled kids
The ‘Get Out and Play’ Playground wasn’t just your everyday playground. It was specially built for young people with physical and developmental disabilities. The playground was opened in 2017 and was part of ARCH’s and was a major part of their “Get Out and Play Initiative” which did encourage kids to get physical from a health aspect. The ‘Get Out and Play” Playground would’ve been summer camp fun for 60 kids in number this year. However, the fire put an end to that event, and that in itself is very saddening to both the kids and ARCH.
What Caused This Fire That Claimed Such a Special Playground As This One Was?
The fire is being looked into very carefully by police investigators in Phoenix. What the campers, as well as, the staff at ARCH are saying is they’d wonder why anyone would want to set this so popular play area ablaze deliberately. A spokesperson for ARCH has openly expressed just how heartbroken everyone is about what happened to the playground. Who or what started the fire on Monday night is a mystery as of yet. The Executive Director for ARCH, Kip Murray, did reveal that this isn’t the first time they’ve had to deal with arson. Murray stated that their old facility location at Alhambra grade school was burned down in 1984 by arsonists.
Will there ever be another ‘Get Out and Play’ Playground in Phoenix for the children like the original one?
The answer is hopefully yes. There is already a GoFundMe page out there to help raise funds to get the playground rebuilt. Please help by donating whatever you can towards the rebuilding of this wonderful playground. It will be greatly appreciated. The kids, as well as, the staff of ARCH are very much disappointed that the playground is no longer. Nonetheless, at the very same time, they’re thankful to the firefighters of Phoenix for effectively putting out the flames and stopping them from spreading to the building.
