By Marshel Couso
Publisher, SusanvilleStuff
Susanville’s Memorial Park has a brand-new adaptive swing, specially engineered to secure children with mobility limitations safely within one of the park’s swing sets. Children with disabilities can enjoy swinging side-by-side with family or friends and continue to swing even after outgrowing the other equipment.
The story of the swing is a personal one for me. At the end of summer 2021 I realized my disabled grandson Mayson would no longer fit in the toddler swings at the park. He loves swinging and would do it for hours if he could. Unfortunately, now that he is 12 he is unable to use a standard swing, and there is no other equipment at either city park he can play on.
I did some research to see how much it would cost to put in at least one adaptive swing, with prices varying from reasonable to extravagant. I contacted Mendy Schuster, who was Susanville’s Mayor at the time, to see if she had a recommendation on how to proceed.
Mendy’s response was one of shock and immediate support.
“I was embarrassed to say that I had never noticed we didn’t have a swing for children with physical needs. I reached out to our city administrator, Dan Newton, and we got the ball rolling on getting such a swing at Memorial Park,” explains Schuster.
Mayor Schuster asked me to forward my research over to Toby Beach at Public Works. I sent what I had, and Toby worked to find different options.
Each year City Council members are allotted $1,000 for civic contributions and Councilwoman Schuster paid for the swing out of her money, with Councilman Stafford offering to cover anything over that amount. Truly generous folks.
At the beginning of June Schuster met my grandson for the first time when he tried out the new swing.
“As soon as I got out of my car I could hear Mayson laughing,” she said, “he loves the new swing.”
“There are days when I question why I ran for City Council but, the day I heard Mayson in our new swing, his joy answered my question.”
Thank you to Councilwoman Schuster and everyone at the City who made the new swing possible. It is appreciated.
