Large Crowd Attends Rain-Soaked Groundbreaking for Stella’s Playground

Aaron Werth, Joe Kaltenberg, Kevin Muhs, Kayla Schultz, Stella Schenider, Therese Schneider, Gayle Cluck, Jake Schneider, Robert Schneider, Cavalier Johnson at Stella’s Playground groundbreaking. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A steady downpour soaked Kilbourn Reservoir Park Thursday, but it did little to thin the crowd gathered to celebrate a milestone years in the making.

Packed beneath tents along E. Meinecke Avenue, supporters watched as ground was officially broken on Stella’s Playground, the planned $2 million, universally accessible playground inspired by 10-year-old Stella Schneider‘s recovery from a brain tumor.

Stella stood alongside her mother, Therese Cluck Schneider, as city officials, donors and project supporters celebrated the start of construction on what is intended to become Milwaukee’s first universally accessible and inclusive playground.

And organizers used the occasion to announce that they are closing in on their fundraising goal.

More than $1.5 million has now been raised, up from $1.2 million in May. A new $250,000 matching challenge announced Thursday could effectively close the remaining gap: donors who contribute another $250,000 will have their gifts matched dollar-for-dollar, bringing the campaign to its $2 million goal.

For Schneider, the rainy groundbreaking was another remarkable step for a project that began with a promise to her daughter.

“Fifteen months ago, this was a promise between a mom and a daughter,” Schneider told the crowd. “Today it’s a promise this whole community made together.”

Stella stood next to her mother through much of the ceremony, occasionally providing comic relief as her younger brother Jake darted around outside the tents in the pouring rain. Their father, Robert, looked on from the crowd beside a number of extended family members and friends.

Schneider, meanwhile, retraced the story that brought the family back to the park.

Stella was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in July 2023. Following surgery to remove the tumor, she was left unable to walk, talk, smile or play as she had before. She underwent therapy while also receiving cancer treatment and has since regained many abilities.

A year after her surgery, the Schneider family returned to Kilbourn Reservoir Park, a park located just blocks from their Riverwest home that they had regularly visited before Stella’s illness.

Stella was using a walker at the time. Jake ran toward the playground.

Schneider offered to take Stella out of the walker and help her over to the playground.

“Playgrounds aren’t for me,” Stella told her mother.

Schneider decided that was one problem she could do something about.

“Playgrounds seemed a lot easier than curing cancer,” Schneider recalled Thursday. “So I promised her that I’d build her a playground. I had no idea what I was really getting into.”

The family publicly launched the Stella’s Playground campaign in May 2025. What followed was an outpouring of support ranging from large donations to lemonade stands, restaurant and brewery fundraisers and support from the Riverwest 24 bicycle race.

“Everywhere we go people stop to ask us, ‘How’s the playground coming?’” Schneider said. “We’re breaking ground.”

Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the project grew from one family’s experience into something intended to serve families across the city.

“Every child should have a place to play, a place that they can belong,” Johnson said.

The project is being developed as a public-private partnership with the Department of Public Works’ MKE Parks program. The city previously committed $200,000 to the effort and will maintain the playground and associated facilities.

And the project has expanded well beyond replacing the existing playground equipment.

City Engineer Kevin Muhs said accessibility is being incorporated throughout the site, including how visitors arrive, move through the park, reach recreation areas and find places to gather or take a break.

“The goal is not simply to build an accessible playground,” Muhs said. “The goal is to create a completely accessible space.”

Plans call for accessible pathways and surfaces, natural and musical play features, sensory-oriented spaces and areas offering different degrees of physical challenge. Adaptive sports courts are also planned.

The city will also renovate and reopen the park’s historic comfort station. Plans call for two climate-controlled, fully accessible single-user restrooms, including adult changing accommodations and space for mobility devices and caregiver assistance.

The redevelopment is being designed around the existing topography and character of the city-owned Kilbourn Reservoir Park.

The existing playground dates to 2006 and, without the privately led effort, city officials previously indicated it likely would not have been replaced until approximately 2029.

The project has been shaped by feedback from families, disability advocates and organizations that work with children with physical, developmental and sensory disabilities. Organizers have said that process resulted in expanded accessible routes, sensory features and quiet spaces in the final design.

Schneider praised Damian Buchman, who is developing Moss Universal Park in Wauwatosa, for his support.

The design of the park is being led by Kahler Slater, raSmith, UW-Milwaukee’s Community Design Solutions, GRG Playscapes and Kompani. It includes a substantial amount of purple, Stella’s favorite color, and a large dragon.

Matching grant announced

Thursday’s groundbreaking did not mark the end of the fundraising campaign.

Laura Peck, speaking on behalf of a group of donors behind the new matching challenge, announced that every new donation — up to a combined $250,000 — would be matched.

The matching effort includes support from Peck and her husband Adam, thE WERTHy Foundation, Bethany and John Schlueter and several anonymous donors.

“Whatever you give, whatever you’re able to give will go twice as far,” Peck said.

Donations are being accepted on the playground website.

The WERTHy Foundation also announced a $50,000 contribution to Stella’s Playground. The foundation supports families of children with disabilities and organizations that provide adaptive and inclusive opportunities.

Schneider said the matching challenge could help the project reach its finish line, but urged supporters to continue donating and connecting organizers with others interested in the effort.

“We’re breaking ground,” she said. “But we still have so much work to do to bring this vision to life.”

Then, with purple ceremonial shovels in hand and purple hard hats on their heads and rain continuing to fall, Stella and the project’s supporters got to work.

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