A mom's letter about Will built a half-million-dollar playground

Teresa De Young spent five years raising nearly half a million dollars to build an all-abilities playground in New Richmond, Wisconsin, for her son Will and kids like him. The idea started on a park bench. Will, who has Down syndrome, sat quietly on a swing while his younger sister Gracie raced between the slide and the monkey bars across rocky, uneven ground he couldn't manage. When a leadership training program asked De Young to design something for the community, she had her answer. The city offered space but no money, so she wrote a letter introducing Will and delivered copies to scores of local businesses. Grants and 5K races followed. She also asked other parents what they needed. Fencing came up often, from a mother tired of chasing her child instead of watching him play. Will's Playground now has rubber matting, ramped slides and an adaptive tire swing. Will has an opinion about it. "Every playground should be a Will's Playground," he says.