Newsletter, November 25, 2025

Legacy Park Financials

Through the entire process of this project, both the Community Board and Steering Committee have been committed to being upfront with our finances and donations. We think it would be helpful for the stakeholders of this endeavor to see exactly where we stand in donations, pledges, and expenses. Hopefully this will help to impress the importance of our successes to date as well as the ground left to cover before our deadline of reaching 1.5 million dollars by the end of 2025.

The end of the year is quick approaching… we are up against the clock! There are some important ways for you to get involved and help make Legacy Park a reality.

Here’s how you can help: Please text 5 friends or neighbors and ask them to join us for a Playground Tour and to consider making an end-of-year gift. You can copy the text message below, personalize it, and send. Attached is a case for support that you can share, too.

Hey [Name] , I thought you might be interested in the school playground because [insert a reason here]. Quick Legacy Park update: we’re officially over halfway to the goal! If you haven’t donated yet, now is the time to make a charitable gift. We have a matching challenge, so your gift gets doubled.

Also, we’re doing tours of the playground 12/2 @ 3pm and 12/5 @ 12pm if you want to walk the site and learn more. Give and have your gift doubled: https://legacy.jsdef.org/

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Have you and your family given a charitable end-of-year gift yet? Today is the day! Give now to help us get to our goal. P.S. Checks can be made out and mailed to:

Jenkintown Education Foundation
c/o Legacy Park
250 West Avenue
Jenkintown PA 19046
Memo: Legacy Park

School Board Debriefs

The Legacy Park Community Board and representatives from the Steering Committee presented to the Jenkintown School Board on 10/20 and 11/10.

At the 10/20 School Board meeting, Jillian Greenberry and Kelly Hudson presented the new scope of the Legacy Park project, scaling the design from a quoted $4.75 million to a $1.5 million project. The new scope will ensure that JES students will be without a playground for 6 months, rather than 5+ years.

In Step 1:

• The basketball area will be refreshed with a taller fence (donated)
• J-Town Jr. (tot lot) will be moved and completely redesigned
• Land slides will be added connecting the current field to the lower area
• A larger bay of swings will be added
• A mural on the “ball wall” to the right of the exterior lower exit of JES will be added (artist and community collaboration)
• A painted labyrinth on the blacktop will be added (donated)
• The “showstopper” will be moved and completely redesigned
• The Fairy Garden will be moved and redesigned (in collaboration with the Sustainability Committee, donated)
• The garden will move to the left of the exterior lower exit of JES (contingent on Tookany/Toucany-Frankford Watershed grant)

At the 11/10 School Board meeting, Darrell Campana from Eustace Engineers, Mike Nickerson, Facilities Manager at JSD, and Legacy Park Community Board members fielded questions from the School Board. Some questions and their answers are here. The Legacy Park Community Board members also emphasized the urgency of getting the Play by Design contract approved so they can begin work with Eustace Civil Engineers. This will ensure we stay on track for a breaking ground/construction date of Summer 2026. Since the 11/10 meeting, School Board members and Mr. Van Mater have been working to get Play by Design contracted under Eustace so they can begin their work together.

Show Your Support

As always, to learn more about our upcoming events, you can follow us on Instagram or Facebook.