Ribbon cutting kicks off plans for playground for children with disabilities

By Mike Hazlip–
Community members and business leaders gathered at San Juan Park last month to kickoff efforts to build Mike’s Playground, a playground that will accommodate children living with disabilities.

A ribbon-cutting was held Friday, Aug. 23 with the support of the Citrus Heights Chamber of Commerce and community leaders, followed by a fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 24 at the park. Representatives for Supervisor Sue Frost, Assemblyman Josh Hoover, and Representative Ami Bera were on hand to present Mike’s Playground founder Aurelia Walker with certificates of recognition in support of her efforts.

Citrus Heights Police Chief Alex Turcotte joined City Manager Ash Feeney and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheri Merrick in support of the playground along with a representative from Metro Fire.

“We are more than delighted to have Mike’s Playground Corporation as a chamber member,” Merrick said. “Ms. Aurelia is just absolutely amazing, she’s very passionate about her cause and has infected her excitement in all of us.”

Turcotte emphasized the importance of investing in the children, saying it makes for better citizens later in life.

The event marks a milestone for Mike’s Playground, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping families that have children with special needs. The Sentinel previously reported that Walker founded the non-profit organization in 2021 as a way to help her grandson who requires the use of a wheelchair for mobility.

Related: Citrus Heights mom, grandmother on mission to build public playground for disabled children

An emotional Walker thanked the community for their support, saying she hopes to see the completion of the project.

“I just never, ever thought this would happen,” Walker said. “My grandson and his friends, although their condition is what it is, we can’t change it, but we can just put a smile on their face. That’s all they want.”

Walker also thanked the Citrus Heights Police Department and Metro Fire for their work in responding to her grandson’s emergency medical needs.

In an interview after the event, Walker said she was “overjoyed.”

“I completed a task from a higher power for the children,” Walker said, adding there are many more tasks that lay ahead.

The playground equipment Walker is proposing can accommodate children using wheelchairs and other assistive devices without the need to transfer them out of the device, plans show. The equipment would give children a greater measure of independence, a spokeswoman for Mike’s Playground said.

Walker said she is working with the Sunrise Recreation and Parks District to build the new playground at San Juan Park. Renderings for the playground show merry-go-rounds and swing-sets large enough to accommodate a wheelchair.

In a previous story, The Sentinel reported Walker’s grandson, Michael Alex Steven Sellu III, is living with Dravet Syndrome, a type of epilepsy that begins in infancy. Sellu experienced a seizure at six months old, marking the beginning of the family’s journey to find answers for his condition.

Now 16, Sellu uses a motorized wheelchair for mobility.  His mother, Ashley Walker-Benjamin, cares for him in their Citrus Heights home along with Walker.

Sellu attends the Ralph Richardson Center in Carmichael, a school in the San Juan Unified School District that serves students with functional needs, Walker-Benjamin said. The school has specialized equipment that enables the students to exercise and play, Walker said.

The playground at San Juan Park seeks to have equipment similar to the Ralph Richardson Center, suitable for all children, Walker said.

“It starts from adults and we’re going to bring it to the children, and everyone deserves to play,” Walker said during the ceremony, adding that it takes “courage, strength, consistency” and “a lot of love.”