Southwest Ohio Clay Friends Take Part in Opening of Play Area in Memory of Autistic Boy

Being a Clay fan is fun and exciting. We love hearing him perform and gathering Clack. But its such things as the actions of the Southwest Ohio Clay Friends that make being a Clay fan extremely rewarding and warms my heart.

Chrispycreme and Bananas4Clayton are both members of the Southwest Ohio Clay Friends, and they tell us in a thread at The Clayboard about a park in the Cincinnati, Ohio area that is being opened where children, with and without disabilities, can play together. The Anderson Park Website also says, "Additionally, this playground will take on a special significance for our community due to the tragic events surrounding Marcus Fiesel."

Chrispycreme said that Marcus was a three-year-old child with autism who was murdered by his foster parents. In his memory, a portion of the park is being dedicated to him. The Southwest Ohio Clay Friends have worked hard to help prepare this portion of the park for its opening. Chrispycreme says:

Today, some of us from SW Ohio Clay Friends, participated in the landscaping and opening of a play area dedicated to Marcus, in a local park. This play area is intended to be all inclusive for any child, whether 'normal' or 'challenged' to be able to play together. We saw this opening as an opportunity for a service project to further Clay's focus of inclusion.

We spent a few hours turning a raw, bare, chunk of hard ground into a beautiful area filled with child-friendly play structures and trees and flowers. We are all very tired after digging holes in drought stricken clay, raking sand, toting sod. But, it was a very rewarding challenge. I think little Marcus, who would have been 4 years old tomorrow, must be smiling down from heaven.

Bananas4Clayton adds:

We have been waiting almost a year to turn the tradgedy of what happened to Marcus into something positive and bright that he would be proud of. Today we opened the section of the playground that is dedicated to Marcus and will serve as a fun, stimulating place where children of all abilities will be able to play together with their siblings and peers. To see how we transformed that chunk of barren land into something beautiful, then to step back and watch as the first group of multi-abled children rushed to play there, and to know we had a part in it, well, I don't exactly know how to put it in words, but it sure felt....'complete'.

You can read more about the opening of this park at the above Anderson Parks link and more about the portion dedicated to Marcus at the Marcus Donation page of the Park's website. If you would like to donate to this effort, donations can be made at this page.

Many thanks to Southwest Ohio Clay Friends for letting us know about this wonderful work they were able to be a part of. Through Clay's love and work with children with disabilities so many great things continue to happen all around the world for children!