Politics & Government
Fundraising Effort for Ocean View Play Structure Nearly Complete
Remaining $10,000 donation from City of Half Moon Bay to be formally approved at tonight's council meeting.
Children in Half Moon Bay and their parents will have something to celebrate tonight after the Half Moon Bay City Council approves a $10,000 donation from the city's general fund to replace the faulty play structure at .
The donation will complete the needed to secure a new play structure for the park located west of Highway 1 in the Alsace Lorraine neighborhood.
The formal vote by the council marks the end of a nearly 5-month campaign led by the and the Half Moon Bay Rotary Club to raise $65,000 to pay for equipment in arguably the city's most frequented park for young children and their parents.
Find out what's happening in Half Moon Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Local children alone raised over $1,300 from bake sales, lemonade stands and a play-a-thon staged by one five-year-old over the course of four days.
“I’ve been very impressed with our community’s creativeness and dedication to the fundraising efforts,” Half Moon Bay Mayor said.
Find out what's happening in Half Moon Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Coastside Mother's Club took up the cause as the city did not have adequate funds to pay for replacement equipment due to its structural deficit. Since the Mother's Club lacked 501(c)3 nonprofit status, the organization could not accept grants, corporate sponsorships, nor could donations from individual donors be tax-deductible. After hearing about this need, councilmember Marina Fraser spoke to the Half Moon Bay Rotary Club [which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit] in an effort to
In addition to the individual donations, grants and corporate sponsorships came in as well.
On July 30, the structure will be removed by the Redwood City Rotary Club and shipped to a community in Mexico. The Redwood City chapter has been sending used playground structures for 18 years to the communities surrounding the city of Mazatlan.
“We are really pleased that our playground can be re-used by another community in need,” said Vice Mayor Allan Alifano.
The donation joins Half Moon Bay with Millbrae, Mountain View, San Carlos, San Jose and San Mateo as cities who have contributed their playground equipment to the program.
A new play structure is tenatively scheduled for installation in October, according to the city of Half Moon Bay. Local children have been asked to help design and choose the equipment to be delivered.
Those interested in getting involved in the play structure project should send an email to oceanviewpark@coastsidemothersclub.org.
