A place for all children to play
Alyssa's Angels raising funds for accessible playground
BY AMANDA BELING Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH - A playground for children of all abilities is what Casey Cantaffa envisions for the community of West Long Branch.

That vision is being carried out by a nonprofit organization, Alyssa's Angels, which was founded in May 2004 in honor of Casey and Tony Cantaffa's daughter Alyssa, who is developmentally disabled.

"Building a playground that was handicap accessible was always something we [the Alyssa's Angels board] planned to do because there aren't any playgrounds around here like that," Casey said.

"It's very difficult for me to take Alyssa and my son Gino to parks around here because Alyssa ends up sitting in the car because of her wheelchair.

"The only place I could bring them both is to Dorbrook Park in Colts Neck, but it's not that close to where we live," she said.

According to Casey, her daughter's life took a drastic turn only three weeks after she was born. Alyssa developed a cough, which developed into pertussis, also known as whooping cough, which is an infection of the upper respiratory system characterized by severe coughing spells.

Above, Alyssa Cantaffa. Left, a rendering of the planned playground at Conway Park, West Long Branch.

"She would have gotten the immunization shot for it, but it's not given to babies until they're about 8 weeks old," said Casey.

She said that Alyssa coded three separate times and due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, was left mentally and physically challenged.

"We're very grateful that she survived. She just turned 9 years old at the end of September. She brings such love and joy to our family and she's really just an amazing young girl," said Casey.

The mission of Alyssa's Angels is to assist children with disabilities and their families by helping to lighten their financial burden by providing funding for therapeutic recreation and medical equipment.

The organization also supports other nonprofits that help children with disabilities.

Michael Stout, a member of the board of Alyssa's Angels, said the organization contacted the borough about 18 months ago inquiring about a location for the playground.

"It was decided that Conway Park on Parker Road was the perfect place for it," he said.

He noted that Alyssa's Angels has been working in conjunction with the borough's recreation department in getting this project off the ground.

"We [Alyssa's Angels] went to their meetings and pitched our idea to them, and they felt it was a great idea and gave us their blessing," said Michael.

He noted that the recreation department also dedicated $85,000 from their parks and grounds recreation fund to the project, which has an estimated cost of between $270,000 and $300,000.

"There's a buffer for unforeseen costs, which is why we have a range, but Alyssa's Angels has matched the $85,000 put in by the recreation department, and as of now we've got a little over $200,000, which leaves between $70,000 to $90,000 left to raise," Stout said.

Casey said Alyssa's Angels, which has seven members, is trying to raise some of the remaining monies through grant writing and fundraisers including dinners, golf outings and school bake sales.

"We also sent out a mailer recently asking all the residents if they would donate $20 to the project," she said.

Casey noted that the vendor they will be using for the playground is General Recreation, which is the same firm that created the accessible playground at Dorbrook Park.

"I worked with them hand in hand on

the project and we put a design together based on their input and what they wanted," said General Recreation consultant Joe Del Vecchio.

He said the company designs playgrounds based on a customer's wish list.

"We will put some different designs together, and work with the customer until we come up with a concept that everyone likes and move forward from there," he said.

According to Stout, "There will be rubberized surfacing throughout the entire playground, so it will be very user friendly."

He added that there will be eight handicap accessible parking spaces adjacent to the playground.

Casey said that

all the equipment and colors have been selected and the nonprofit is just working on raising the rest of the funds.

"We are shooting to have the park open by the spring of 2008," she said.

Once Alyssa's Angels Playground at Conway Park is open, Stout noted, the borough would keep it maintained.

"We [Alyssa's Angels] went to the borough about this and with the help of Mayor Janet Tucci and the council, they saw no problem with putting the park maintenance under public works.

Our organization is giving the Borough of West Long Branch this gift, and they are happy to care for it," he said.