By Terri Jo Ryan

Tribune-Herald staff writer

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes almost that many to erect a children’s center playground.

For two sunny fall days last month, members of Lake Shore Baptist Church joined with the parents and teachers of its children’s center to dig holes, hammer pilings, mix cement and shovel rocks, sand, dirt and wood fiber.

With volunteers from the Baylor Transfer Council and the Freeman Center, they also struggled with installing huge sunshade frames and helping to erect climbing and sliding structures.

These prekindergarteners got a preview Friday of the playground scheduled to open this week at the Lake Shore Baptist Church Children's Center. Pictured are (from left) Haley Plaa, Hazel Martinez, Matthew Wessel, Libby Bastow, Zachery Wolfe and Riley Boldt. (Ken Sury photo)

The Rev. Dorisanne Cooper said the work crews had no idea “what an incredible community building experience it would be” when starting the process more than three years ago.

Faith Kopplin, chairwoman of the playground committee, said church members had long planned to update the playground for the church’s children’s center to make it safer.

“We dreamed of transforming the play area next to the church into a place that welcomes children and provides for their physical, emotional and spiritual needs,” Kopplin said. The new playground would encourage fitness as well as enjoyment of the green spaces surrounding the church.

Some scoffed because the hurdles were many: a deteriorating wooden fence needed replacement, the concrete support walls needed to be reinforced and the eroding hillside graded, she said. Modern playground equipment is expensive, and some questioned the expenditure.

Bill Burt, Jim Fau and Bill Bellinger pour concrete for the sunshades. (Lake Shore Baptist Church photo)

Judy Prather puts together a picnic table for a new playground at Lake Shore Baptist Church Children's Center. (Lake Shore Baptist Church photo)

Not wasting time

But in the space of eight weeks, not only did church members vote to proceed with plans for the playscape, they actually raised the funds to do so, Kopplin said.

Committee member Donovan McNeil said even folks from the surrounding neighborhood pitched into the project, helping to unload an 18-wheeler of supplies and working under the guidance of three on-site consultants from Grounds For Play Inc., a Dallas-area firm that specializes in such projects.

Lake Shore Baptist re-affirmed its commitment to the children’s center last year as a mission of the church, Cooper said. The vote of confidence included pay raises for teachers as well as a commitment to continue investing in providing quality child care and development opportunities for families from all different backgrounds in Waco.

The playground project is but one tangible sign of the church’s commitment, Cooper said.

Since construction, she added, her flock continues to tell her how much they enjoyed the time spent together and letting the conversation flow over the hours.

“People got to know some they hadn’t really spent time with before, and reacquainted themselves with others,” she added.

Work didn’t slow for two days, except for a special outdoor worship service on Sunday morning. “We all brought lawn chairs and worshipped in the midst of creation, next to the work we were doing,” the pastor said.

Since that weekend, concrete has been poured for tricycle paths, sunshades have been put up over the three main structures and there are plans for shrubs to attract butterflies along with a garden planted by and tended to by the children, McNeil said.

The work is nearly complete, with hopes that the playground will be completely free of remaining material and stray nails by Monday so the children can begin enjoying it.

The playground is intended as a sign to the neighborhood and the Waco community as a whole of the church’s commitment to all aspects of children’s health.

“Inside these doors is a place which welcomes and nurtures young children and their families with God’s kind of love,” Cooper added. “Now the outside shows that again, too.”

tjryan@wacotrib.com

757-5746