NASHUA, NH – Students and staff of the Nashua Children’s Home (NCH) gathered in the school playing fields on Wednesday this week to celebrate. The occasion was a ribbon-cutting on the newly-upgraded playground and an end-of-summer party.
NCH operates an educational and residential facility on Amherst Street. The organization’s roots go back more than a century in the Gate City. NCH provides education and residential programs for children who can not remain with their own families, special educational services for children who have not been successful in public school settings, and supportive housing for youth who have “aged -out” of care settings.
The existing playground area was last upgraded in the 1980s and needed a complete rebuild. Lori Wilshire, the current business manager of the NCH (also President of the Nashua Board of Alderman) was once a child resident of the home. She noted the slide that was removed was there in the 1960s.
It was time to build a new playground.
Daniele Ferreira Training and Recreational coordinator at NCH said, “Our old playground was very outdated, it was getting out of compliance. We needed a new playground for the kids with more things that their age group was into doing.”
The process of replacing the existing playground began back in 2018. After the initial steps, the project was put on hold when the COVID-19 pandemic impacted all the school operations.
Executive Director Matt Fentross said the project got back on track after the pandemic in the last two years. Bringing the facility into ADA compliance was a priority and was part of a comprehensive design process. The next biggest step was securing the $150,000 to finance the project. That money came from a mix of corporate and private donors.
“In the last year and a half, we started a fundraising campaign. We applied for grants and we got support from Conway Arena, Cirtronics and New Power Worldwide helped us out with donations as well. We sent out an appeal letter in February asking for community donations. Our community pulled through and we made it a reality.” said Fentross
Final plans were approved this spring and construction began The project was completed last week.
