Campaign Launched To Build City’s First Inclusive Playground
Battle with cancer leads to making Stella's Playground for children of all abilities.
Robert, Stella and Therese Schneider. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
When Stella Schneider returned to her favorite park after a battle with a cancerous brain tumor, she found herself unable to enjoy it like she had prior to her 2023 diagnosis.
“She looked down at me and said, ‘this playground isn’t for me,”’ said her mother Therese ‘Rese’ Cluck Schneider on Wednesday. Stella watched as her younger brother and cousins ran off to play at Kilbourn Reservoir Park in Riverwest, while she required the assistance of a walker.
“After her surgery, she lost the ability to speak, and to walk and to swallow and to smile, and ever since then she’s been fighting to get all of those abilities back,” said Rese.
On Wednesday, Stella demonstrated that she’s on the way to regaining many of her motor skills. Surrounded by friends and family, she celebrated her ninth birthday at the park with cupcakes. With her parents, she also kicked off a campaign to build a universally accessible and inclusive playground.
Recounting the moment at the playground, Rese said she pledged to build her daughter a playground that was for her. “She grabbed my face in her hands and said ‘thank you Mommy,'” said Rese.
“Through this whole time when she was sick, when she had her surgeries, when she’s going to therapy, we kept asking for a magic wand to make this all better, to make this all go away and just take all of this away from her… I would have given my own limbs. I would have given anything to make this better for her. So when she said a playground wasn’t for her, that was something I felt like ‘oh, this is something I can do.'”
Schneider and her husband Robert Schneider now find themselves leading a $2 million campaign to build the city of Milwaukee’s fully accessible playground.
“When I started talking to people about this crazy idea of ‘hey, I may have promised my kid I was going to build this playground and I have no background and building playgrounds. I have no idea what I’m doing,’ people have said ‘heck yeah, we’re in,’ and the city has been incredibly supportive,” said Rese. The Riverwest family has a large network to draw on to help kickstart the effort. Rese is vice president of external affairs at Discovery World and Robert is a professor at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture & Urban Planning. They are also involved in several community groups and efforts.
Kilbourn Reservoir Park, 2230 N. Bremen St., is formally part of the Department of Public Works‘ MKE Plays system of approximately 50 parks. The city has already pledged $200,000 to the effort.
“This new accessible playground represents an important milestone for Milwaukee. It ensures that children of all abilities have a place to play, connect, and feel included. We’re proud to be creating a space where every family feels welcome and every child can thrive,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson in a statement.
“Stella’s Playground is a powerful example of what happens when a community comes together to make every child feel seen and supported,” said area Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs. “I’m honored to support a project that is creating a space where joy and accessibility go hand in hand.”
MKE Plays manager Joe Kaltenberg said the city has no precedent for the scale of the public-private collaboration, but is happy to support the project and bring an inclusive playground to the city. The current playground is located along E. Meinecke Avenue.
Without intervention, the city was likely to replace the playground in 2029, though probably without inclusive features. It was last updated in 2006.
A handful of inclusive playgrounds, which include features designed to accommodate wheelchairs and other mobility devices, exist in the suburbs. Rese said they have looked at Kayla’s Playground in Franklin as a guide. She also praised Damian Buchman of The Ability Center for his support. Buchman is working with Milwaukee County Parks on an effort to renovate Wisconsin Avenue Park in Wauwatosa into Moss Universal Park.
The group hopes to break ground next summer on the new Riverwest playground. Play By Design is supporting the project design.
For more information on the project or to donate, visit StellasPlayground.org.
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