Kevin Riordan: 'Boundless playground' to rise in Cherry Hill

Despite the sour economy, Jim and Lynn Cummings - and several thousand of their closest friends - have raised more than $300,000 to build a "boundless playground" in Cherry Hill.

I'm amazed, and then I see a photo of the little boy for whom Jake's Place will be named.

OMG. What a sweet face. And what a joy it is that Jake Myles Cummings Nasto, not yet 3 when he died of complications from cardiac surgery in 2007, lives in the hearts of so many.

"People still come up and tell me, 'Your son made a real difference,' " says Kate Nasto, who lives with her husband, Joseph, in Pennsauken. "He'd love the fact that in his name, we'll be helping others."

Thanks to donations large and small, from foundations, businesses, social clubs, and individuals, Jake's Place will rise on the site of a shopworn playground in Challenge Grove Park off Brace Road.

It has been designed in partnership with Boundless Playgrounds, a Maryland organization involved in the construction of more than 200 such facilities nationwide.

The surfaces, equipment, shade trees, and other amenities will ensure access by kids of all abilities (thus, "boundless").

"Everyone, including a veteran in a wheelchair who wants to bring his kids, will be able to enjoy it," says Lynn Cummings, Jake's grandmother.

"Playgrounds are one of the last places in our society where [disabled] children are segregated," adds Jim, her husband. With projects like Jake's Place, "we can fix this."

The Cummingses, longtime civic leaders and professionals in the world of nonprofits and fundraising, say the economic downturn made it harder to attract corporate donations, particularly because theirs is a new organization.

"But the economy hasn't affected individual giving," Lynn says.

The slower pace has meant more opportunities for what she calls "community buy-in" by public agencies such as Camden County's parks department, as well as private citizens.

Five major events, including the recent "Relay for Play" at Cooper River Park, have raised not only funds but friends, says Jim, who notes that a mailing list originally consisting of 300 names has grown to 2,600.

Much of the support has come from the school communities in Cherry Hill and Pennsauken.

"The message to kids is, even if they give a penny, they'll be able to say, 'I helped build this,' " says teacher Steve Redfearn, who oversaw a district-wide effort in Cherry Hill that netted $26,000 for Jake's Place.

In the school district Jake would have attended, the Pennsauken Education Association raised $33,000. "It hit close to home," says Jim Boice, president of the union. "And there's no other playground of this type in the county."

Tori Sax, the 4-year-old daughter of Pennsauken Intermediate School teacher Matt Sax, inspired a "Relay for Play" team that raised $12,000. "Tori is neurologically disabled, and she took the brave last leg of the relay using her walker," Lynn says.

(With teachers and their unions under so much fire in New Jersey, I must say it's a pleasure to salute this job well done.)

A ceremonial groundbreaking next month will be followed by a "community build" - think barn-raising - in October. An all-access sports field may come later.

It's all good, but bittersweet, too.

Because of his multiple strokes and tiny size (27 inches tall when he died), Jake couldn't enjoy local playgrounds.

But Kate took him anyway, because she could provide him with physical therapy and exercise not possible inside the family's apartment.

Besides, his mother recalls, Jake was "a people person." He loved to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of boys and girls at play.