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Wilkes-Barre sets up Special Needs Playground Project

The program will help provide access to the city's playgrounds for those with special needs.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — There's not much activity at the playground at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre on a rainy day. 

But the lack of children helps you notice something you might not necessarily think about.

There are a lot of stairs, not much fun for someone who requires a wheelchair.

The Mayor and others in the city have come together and started the Wilkes-Barre Special Needs Playground Project.

"We want to take the parks in the city of Wilkes Barre and convert them to where there's access for special needs people," said Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown.

Mayor Brown says it will take a lot of work, but it's something that's important to him and many members of the project's committee who have children with special needs.

"We'll have to make some infrastructure changes. Want to make some pathways and make sure it's adaptable. But when that happens, we're going to install special needs equipment so that folks that are in wheelchairs or have other mobility problems can use the park like everybody else can," added Brown.

Fun-loving folks in Wilkes-Barre like 27-year-old Kennith Smith Jr., 28-year-old Caitlyn Gommer, and six-year-old Chase Cunningham.

"One is like a merry-go-round, that they will have to get locked in, and they can just push it around. Okay, now that might be $6,000-$7,000 plus it has to be installed. Another is a swing set, where someone in a wheelchair would be wheeled into this swing set, they get locked in, and then someone pushes them in this way," described Brown.

"Doesn't sound like it's very exciting to us, but it's really exciting to people that can't do it right now. So these are things that we want to do is expand, where people with special needs, have the same fun in parks that other people have," explained Brown.

The Project has set up a Facebook page to provide updates and a GoFundMe page to help raise money.

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