{"id":237512,"date":"2024-07-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=237512"},"modified":"2024-07-27T18:29:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T18:29:31","slug":"fort-knox-families-enjoy-inclusive-playground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=237512","title":{"rendered":"Fort Knox families enjoy inclusive playground"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Madison Maxwell, 10, daughter of 1st Sgt. John Maxwell, 502nd Engineer Battalion, Molly Griggs, 10, daughter of Maj. Charles Griggs, 1st Army Division, and Jade Smith, 10, daughter of Sgt. 1st. Class Kyle Smith, Recruiting and Retention College instructor, play an interactive game at the new inclusive playground on Fort Knox, Kentucky, July 18 (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins)
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Army News Service<\/p>\n

FORT KNOX, Kentucky \u2013 Specialty turf, a limited mobility swing and sensory games are some of the highlights of the new all-inclusive playground in the Anderson Greens neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Land lease communities senior marketing manager Staci Burton said the new equipment is designed to connect with all military children.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving an all-inclusive playground helps us continue to build a sense of community for our families here at Fort Knox,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a benefit for our service members and their families. It creates a space for children and parents of varying abilities to play together and provides a variety of emotional, social and educational benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Military chidren enjoy the new inclusive playground July 18 on Fort Knox, Kentucky. It includes specialized turf, swing and interactive games. (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins)
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Burton said the idea came from feedback provided to Resident Advisory Board members, customer satisfaction surveys and Army Housing Tenant Satisfaction surveys.<\/p>\n

Burton said based on these responses, they identified areas of improvement and desired community upgrades that will enhance the overall community living experience for the service members and their families here at Fort Knox.<\/p>\n

Families<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtney Griggs, wife of Maj. Charles Griggs, First Army Division, has lived on Fort Knox for two years with her three children.<\/p>\n

Her children play on the new playground for hours once a week. She loves the new playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that it\u2019s inclusive because all kids need a safe, clean place to play, and this playground is perfect for that,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery kid is the same, whether they have different abilities or not. As a military spouse, it\u2019s important to have inclusivity and accessibility for everybody because everybody has different kids with different abilities. They all need to be able to play together in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madison Maxwell, 10, daughter of 1st Sgt. John Maxwell, 502nd Engineer Battalion, has lived on Fort Knox for two years.<\/p>\n

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\n Madison Maxwell, 10, daughter of 1st Sgt. John Maxwell, 502nd Engineer Battalion, and Molly Griggs, 10, daughter of Maj. Charles Griggs, 1st Army Division, demonstrate how to use a swing designed for special needs and mobility impaired children at the new inclusive playground on Fort Knox, Kentucky, July 18 (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins)
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\u201cEveryone likes the playground. We never get bored,\u201d she said. \u201cI love how everyone can be included no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jade Smith, 10, daughter of Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Smith, Recruiting and Retention College instructor, has lived at Fort Knox for one year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it because there\u2019s a bunch of things you can do,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI like the music part because you can pretend you\u2019re in a band with all of your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The children said they love creating friendships and stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne time my brother was at the end of the fire pole and when I came down, he was on top of me and laughing,\u201d Maxwell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaddie and I were hanging out on the playground and her brother stole her shoe, so we stole his shoe,\u201d Molly Griggs, 10, said as Maxwell and Smith giggled.<\/p>\n

The girls said they love the inclusivity of this playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can be included, which is very nice because it gives everyone a chance to show what they can do,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more than just a swing and slides,\u201d Molly said.<\/p>\n

Specifics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Knox Hills is responsible for maintaining 24 playgrounds throughout Fort Knox. Another playground has been targeted for all-inclusive upgrades at Prichard Place by 2026 and a third may be added later.<\/p>\n

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\n Jade Smith, 10, daughter of Sgt. 1st. Class Kyle Smith, Recruiting and Retention College instructor, plays on an interactive game at the new inclusive playground on Fort Knox, Kentucky, July 18 (U.S. Army photo by Shannon Collins)
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Burton said they worked with a certified playground company to identify the equipment and type of surface required to ensure the all-inclusive playgrounds are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.<\/p>\n

The swing on the inclusive playground allows for a special needs child to sit on one side while his or her parent sits on the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could be in a wheelchair or a young toddler. It could be they\u2019re scared of being in a swing by themselves,\u201d said Katie Huff, project director, Knox Hills. \u201cOn the concrete side, you\u2019ve got areas where the child could walk up or wheel up to play on the tool or the equipment instead of having to climb up into something and play on the equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project director also added that they\u2019re concentrating on areas beyond just the playgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on bringing more diverse and inclusive areas not just to the playgrounds but throughout the communities,\u201d Huff said. \u201cWe want to have accessibility throughout all our neighborhoods, not just in one location on Fort Knox.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huff, who has limited mobility, said this is added value to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely beautiful to be able to support the Fort Knox community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt allows so much more community involvement. I couldn\u2019t be prouder. Everybody is absolutely loving it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madison Maxwell, 10, daughter of 1st Sgt. John Maxwell, 502nd Engineer Battalion, Molly Griggs, 10, daughter of Maj. Charles Griggs, 1st Army Division, and Jade Smith, 10, daughter of Sgt. 1st. Class Kyle Smith, Recruiting and Retention College instructor, play an interactive game at the new inclusive playground on Fort Knox, Kentucky, July 18 (U.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237514,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237512"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237519,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237512\/revisions\/237519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/237514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}