‘Emilie’s Shady Spot’ playground built in honor of Sandy Hook victim
Volunteers work on building a playground in New london, Conn., in memory of Emile Parker, one of the 26 victims killed last December in the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Parkers are former Ogden residents. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Sunday, November 17, 2013.(Courtesy of Robbie Parker)
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Sunday, November 17, 2013, in New london, Conn., for a playground built in memory of Emilie Parker, one of the 26 victims killed last December in the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Parkers are former Ogden residents. The artwork in this photo is one of Emilie Parker's.Her artwork can be seen at emilieparkerfund.com. The Sandy Ground project has completed 14 playgrounds so far in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. Approval of five more playground sites has been received. (Courtesy of Robbie Parker)
On Thursday and Friday, 175 to 225 volunteers worked on this playgroundin New london, Conn., built in memory of Emilie Parker, one of the 26 victims killed last December in the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Sunday, November 17, 2013. The Parkers are former Ogden residents. (Courtesy of Robbie Parker)
Robbie Parker, wife Alissa and daughters Madeline (left) and Samantha prepare to throw a ceremonial first pitch at the Ogden Raptors game at lindquist Field in July.(Standard-Examiner file photo)
Emilie Parker, who was killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting last December. (Courtesy photo)
Robbie and Alissa Parker, former Ogden residents, joined about 200 volunteers in Connecticut to build a playground in the memory of their daughter, Emilie Parker.
The 6-year-old was one of 20 children who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last December.
The park in New London, Conn., is about a 90-minute drive from the Parkers’ home in Connecticut, Robbie Parker said in a phone interview Friday.
“We arrived at 7:30 in the morning (on Thursday); it was 28 degrees and there were already 150 people here working,” Robbie Parker said.
Their daughters, Madeline, 5; and Samantha, 4; wore tool belts and drilled the first hole in a ceremony on Thursday to begin the installation of playground equipment. Family members from Utah and other parts of the country were also on hand to build the park.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for today, making it the 14th park completed in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York in memory of the Sandy Hook tragedy. Each park costs about $100,000 and the total project is estimated to cost between $1.8 million and $2 million.
The memorial parks are being funded through donations sent to Where Angels Play, a non-profit foundation. One of the foundation’s projects is The Sandy Ground, which is building 26 playgrounds in communities that were hit the hardest by Super Storm Sandy in October 2012. All of the playgrounds are dedicated to one of the Sandy Hook victims.
The foundation was founded by Bill Lavin, former president of the New Jersey State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association, which has 5,000 members. The group started building playgrounds in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, and then re-organized after the Sandy Hook shooting to build more playgrounds.
He said among the 200 volunteers is a core group of 50 firefighters who travel to each site to build a park. They are joined by local firefighters, teachers, police officers, football teams, Boy Scouts and community activists.
“For us, it is a real privilege and honor to work on these parks,” Lavin said. “We view it as a blessed project and believe the angels are guiding us. There are too many things that have happened and we can’t believe they’re coincidences.”
One of those “coincidences” was finding the right spot for Emilie’s park.
Alissa Parker told the park organizers her daughter loved to play in the shade during recess.
Finding a park with shade at first seemed impossible until the group stumbled on Riverside Park in New London.
The park will be renamed “Emilie’s Shady Spot” on Sunday.
“It overlooks the Thanes River and there’s a hillside surrounded by trees and it’s completely shaded,” Robbie Parker said.
Robbie Parker said as he worked on the park Thursday many people from New London told him that two years ago the city had almost sold the park because it was in disrepair and the city did not have the funds to fix it. After heated discussions, the city decided to keep the park, and the debate left the town divided.
“But by building it in honor of Emilie, it has brought the community together,” Robbie Parker said. “It has been a healing and unifying process.”
The Parkers met with the chief executive officer of Giordano Contracting during the design phase. The New Jersey company built the playground equipment. The Parkers were told a photo of Emilie was placed in every cubicle and throughout the factory that employs 250 workers so they would remember “who they were doing it for,” Robbie Parker said.
The park features several of Emilie’s drawings etched into the playground equipment and is in her favorite colors: pink, blue and black.
“Everyone knows pink was Emilie’s favorite color, but she liked how blue and black worked with pink too,” Robbie Parker said.
Robbie Parker said this past year has been a “horrific” year because of what happened and “an uplifting” year because “a lot of people’s lives have changed for the better.”
The Parkers also have created their own charity organization in Emilie’s name to help fund arts for children. The Emilie Parker Art Connection raises funds for art programs for children nationwide. The Ogden Raptors hosted a “Pink in the Park Night” in honor of Emilie. Funds from that event were donated to Imagine Ballet Theatre, a local ballet group, that will present “The Nutcracker” in December.
Also the Parkers are involved with “Safe and Sound Schools,” another non-profit organization, that promotes school safety.
To contribute to Where Angels Play, go to www.thesandygroundproject.org.
To donate to The Emily Parker Art Connection, go to emilyparkerfund.com.
To donate to the Safe and Sound Schools go to safeandsoundschools.org.
Contact reporter Loretta Park at 801-625-4252 or lpark@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @LorettaParkSE.
