New Playground Underway

With any luck, Faust Elementary School students will share something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving: A new playground.

The school, after fundraising for close to a decade to cover the bulk of the $142,717 cost of new playground equipment to replace the roughly 50-year-old apparatus, was awarded a $38,146 grant from the Albert W. Bader Foundation recently.

Debi Johnson, a reading and ESL teacher who serves on the playground committee, said she helped kicked off fundraising when her daughter, now a Penn State University student, was in fifth-grade. 

"The playgrounds that we have here are basically falling apart," Johnson said, adding that the hope is to have new equipment installed by Thanksgiving and a ribbon cutting in early December. 

Johnson said the long-awaited project got a boost when representatives of the Angela M. Felt Memorial Fund agreed to help with fundraising and succeeded in obtaining the most recent grant. 

Named in honor of the school's late librarian, Angela Felt, Johnson said those in charge of the memorial fund opted to chip in to fill the funding gaps left after walks, beef and beers, fashion shows and more.  

"Our fundraisers don’t get that much money," Johnson said.

Even prior to the big unveiling, Johnson is pretty sure Faust students will enjoy the new playground, which will include a custom summit, mountaineer, rock and cross, sky game, pods, spinners, 12 swings (including one handicap), a play pod set and several benches.

"When we started this whole project we actually took children who were on the student council … and went to visit two to three playgrounds," she said. "We had sheets with pictures of equipment and had kids vote on the pieces that they want."

Besides funds for Faust's playground, the Albert W. Bader Foundation gave out several grants to community organizations for various projects, including the First Tee Mentoring Program at Bensalem Country Club; replacement of playground equipment at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School; $10,000 to the Bensalem Alumni Association to fund Bensalem High School scholarships; and two new score boards for the Bensalem Ramblers. 

Prior to his death, Bader had owned the 18-hole golf course now owned by the township and known as Bensalem Township Country Club. The Foundation was established in tandem with Bader's will as a way to provide annual funds to sports-related activities in Bensalem.