Clorox Grant Could Help Fund New Roaring Brook School Playground

Roaring Brook School has the chance to win a grant to put toward a new playground and the PTO needs your votes to win Clorox's Power a Bright Future contest.

You can vote once a day on both your computer and phone through Dec. 19.

Prizes amount to either $50,000 or $25,000 and would "make an enormous imact on our fundraising goals for the new playground," PTO member Beth Mango wrote in an email to Patch.

The playground was built at Roaring Brook School in the mid-1990s and it needs to be renovated, according to Mango. She said the wooden structure is deteriorating and that some of the wooden beams have rotted and "attracted bees nests" underneath. Installing a new playground that exceeds Americans with Disabilities Act standards is also priority for Roaring Brook, she said. 

So far, the PTO has raised $40,000 toward a target of $125,000 for the Roaring Brook Playground Fund, she said.

"The estimated cost for the new structure is between $225,000 and $250,000," Mango said. "We are hopeful that if we raise $125,000 as a school community, the town of Avon will help us reach our final goal by providing support in-kind in the form of demolition, installation and grounds services."

Cori Guenther, Roaring Brook PTO executive board assistant treasurer, discovered the grant opportunity and notified the PTO.

"We've seen an incredible show of school spirit just in the first couple weeks of voting - the impact this award would make on our school community as we work together this entire academic year to reach our final goal would be great," Mango said. "We would be that much more assured that our children - and those headed to Roaring Brook in the years to come - would soon have the safe, fun, accessible and inclusive playground they deserve." 

Mango wrote and submitted Roaring Brook's nomination for the grant contest and worked with students in the process.

"Not only does the Clorox grant contest present great potential monetary award, but it has given us an exciting opportunity to unite students, parents and teachers to work together toward our common goal," Mango said. "It's also given us a great platform to reach out to the larger Avon community to promote awareness about the new playground plans - and to enlist the support of others both in our town and beyond."

To vote either text Roaring Brook's keyword "1209pbf" to 95248 once every 24 hours. To vote online, go to Roaring Brook's nomination page: https://powerabrightfuture.clorox.com/nominees/detail/?nid=1209 and click the vote button on the page every 24 hours. You will need to register once to vote.