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Nov 23, 2023

On the Bright Side: Accessible playground will honor local woman

Unadilla DPW workers break ground for what will be a memorial,

Unadilla DPW workers break ground for what will be a memorial, wheelchair-friendly playground for children 2 to 12 in the village in this late May photo.

Unadilla-area children will soon have a new place to play.

On May 31, ground was broken for what will be a wheelchair-accessible playground for children aged 2 to 12 at the Denton Reed Recreational Fields in Unadilla. Unadilla Mayor Jake Cotten said the playground, conceptualized about a year ago, will memorialize Theresa Wiedeck, a Wells Bridge native who passed away in May 2020 at age 37.

"I was confronted by the Unatego Youth Sports Association last year, and they said they’d like a new playground so younger kids have something to do while older siblings are playing ball (on the park's sports fields)," Cotten said. "(Unadilla village Trustee and Unatego Youth Sports Association Secretary) Kaleigh Barber said, ‘Man, we really need a playground,’ and they were going to just build a swing set or something, so I said, ‘Why don't you let me do some research and see what I can do?’ We reached out to Otsego County and received some ARPA — American Rescue Plan (Act) — money and we purchased a new playground."

The village, Cotten said, was awarded $25,000 in ARPA funds and labor is being provided by the Unadilla Department of Public Works. The 50-foot-by-50-foot playground, he said, will also benefit from repurposed materials.

"We had a lot of materials left over from other jobs over the years that were stored at the DPW that we’re going to use for drainage," he said. "And the playground surface is artificial turf. I found a school out in western New York that was digging up all their artificial turf for their soccer and football fields, so I got it all for free."

Facilitating accessibility, Cotten said, became a focus once the project was underway.

"I was contacted by Curt Underwood, and his girlfriend was Theresa Wiedeck," he said. "He had heard through the grapevine that we were putting in a new playground and he contacted me to see if we’d be interested in working with him in making it handicap- and wheelchair-accessible. There were funds in the name of Theresa Wiedeck … left to the Catskill Center for Independence and, in correspondence with Curt and the (center) and myself, we came together and got this whole thing rolling. It's going to be in memory of her and they’re going to be putting a gazebo in with a mural on the side of it."

Underwood said honoring his late partner of nearly 20 years this way felt fitting.

"Theresa worked in social services, and she helped a lot of people," he said. "When she got sick, people just started sending us money, but she also worked in insurance, so she understood what she needed to do to take care of her medical bills. I was left with a bunch of money for medical bills that I didn't need. Theresa was all about paying it forward; she wanted to help everybody that she could, so what I did with the money was give it all to the Catskill Center for Independence and let Meghan (Staring, executive director) administer the Theresa Wiedeck Memorial Fund.

"We had been shopping around (for) opportunities to put the money back into a local community, and we’d heard about what Jake was trying to do down at the fields in Unadilla," Underwood continued. "We thought it would be a good match."

And doing something for children, Underwood said, was a priority.

"When Theresa was young, she got hit by a car and it crushed her pelvis," he said. "She had to relearn how to walk and do all that stuff again, but the doctors always told her that she shouldn't try to have a child, because of the damage to her pelvis. But Theresa loved kids; her nieces and nephews were everything to her. The fact that we can bring a playground to the community was a good fit, but she also did work with Meghan at the Catskill Center for Independence, so that's why I wanted Meghan to administer … and we wanted there to be an ADA component, just to include everybody.

"(Cotten) is working closely with the Catskill Center for Independence to make sure he does everything he needs to to make it accessible," Underwood continued, "and Meghan was specifically looking for ADA-friendly accessories to go with what Jake got. Jake got his $25,000 grant and we’re roughly coming in with … around $15,000, and the gazebo is an additional donation that Meghan was working on with the Amish Barn Company."

Cotten said community members are "extremely excited."

"At every other playground, a (child in a) wheelchair could go and watch, but … we’ve been told this will be the only wheelchair-accessible playground equipment in the area," he said. "So, I’m sure we’ll be getting visits from Springbrook, Broome Development Center, ARC and places like that."

Cotten said playground equipment will be assembled June 26 and non-wheelchair-bound children can expect to play on it "as early as July 1." The wheelchair-friendly equipment, he said, will arrive "hopefully by August or September."

Underwood said it "feels great" seeing the project approach completion.

"We’ve been trying to do this for over three years now, and I’m just happy to invest back into the community that Theresa grew up in," he said. "Theresa was loved by so many – hundreds of people sent money while she was sick — so it was just kind of astounding how many people really cared for her."

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