Jake’s Place celebrated its grand opening in Cherry Hill
The region’s first Boundless Playground opened Saturday, Oct. 15 at Challenge Grove Park in Cherry Hill.
“Jake’s Place” is a state of the art playground and the first area play facility, which allows children of every ability to play together.
Opening day featured family celebrations, produced in collaboration with Bancroft of Haddonfield. The day also featured music, face painting, and fun for the entire family.
Joe Nasto of Pennsauken, the Build Jake’s Place Board Chair, said, “this event is the culmination of an incredible effort by the people of this area who believe every child deserves a place to play. Ordinary people donated their time and dollars to build this playground coming from as far as Pennsylvania and New York. In fact, over 300 actually built the playground during our community build on Sept. 9, 10 and 11. So many kids have been awaiting this playground; they include kids of every ability, and kids of every ability will play, together, on this playground.”
Build Jake’s Place was inspired by 2-year-old Jacob Myles Cummings Nasto, who died from complications after his fourth open-heart surgery. Jake was treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He had a rare condition — literally half a heart. Jake visited playgrounds as part of his physical therapy but was often unable to use the apparatus. The Board of Build Jake’s Place and his parents, Kathleen Cummings and Joseph Nasto, of Pennsauken, sought public and private funding to “Build Jake’s Place.” Build Jake’s Place is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
“This whole process has been a great learning experience for the Freeholder Board in what is needed in this park,” said Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. “Jake’s family didn’t let grief consume them, they set about to build something beautiful.”
