NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A new adaptive playground for children with disabilities is coming to Camden County.
Jake’s Place is a park for families to bring children with special needs to enjoy fun in the sun. The locations in Cherry Hill and Winslow Township have been so popular, the county is building another in Camden. Mayor Vic Carstarphen is thrilled.
“We’re blessed to have such collaboration and continuity of folks that think about our people, our families, and that’s an important project,” Carstarphen said. “We’ve done a lot of great projects, but this project is right at the top of great projects we’ll be doing for the city.”
Jake’s Place will be built inside a fenced-in area at New Camden Park. Adaptive equipment, ramps, multi-sensory devices and transfer stations will spread across 9,000 square feet on a soft rubber surface.
“We’re working hard to do our best to always improve quality of life, and quality of life for disabled children is a quality of life that we have to recognize and understand that they should have the luxury of going to a park, a park that’s fully functional,” Carstarphen said.
Carstarphen says it’s uplifting to see so many people working together to help make improvements like this for families who need it.
New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection provided a grant of nearly $900,000 to build the playground, with completion expected this fall.