An inclusive playground comes to E.M.

After five years of fundraising and planning, the Let All the Children Play Accessible Park and Playground is officially open at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. The one-of-a-kind playground will offer inclusive recreational opportunities for children of all abilities beginning next spring.

The park was modeled after one in Ra’anana, Israel, which was the brainchild of Michael Alon, of Cedarhurst. “Personally, I wanted — no, needed — to show my children that they should never take their health for granted,” said Alon. “I have always played sports, and felt that by exposing children to children with disabilities in a fun environment at a young age, it would help increase acceptance.”

When David Weingarten, the father of a 27-year-old man with Down syndrome, learned about the inclusive park in Israel, he joined up with Alon and they established the Let All the Children Play Foundation in 2006. “When I was first introduced to Michael Alon, the founder of the organization that developed and designed Israel’s first accessible playground, I knew that I needed to work with him to help make these parks a reality in the United States,” said Weingarten, who lives in Atlantic Beach. “I believe that the park is beneficial to both children with and without disabilities, since inclusion provides typical children with the ability to develop leadership skills and compassion, while children with disabilities develop a greater level of self-confidence and feeling of acceptance.”

The state-of-the-art, two-acre park contains a variety of playground equipment, including slides, swings, monkey bars and a sandbox. It is also equipped with ramps as well as safety harnesses on some swings, and will have a ground-level, wheelchair-accessible bathroom nearby. “Kids with disabilities are often left on the sidelines,” said LATCP representative Kerry Gillick-Goldberg, “but the park will bring them in together with kids who are typical.”