Have you seen our Coventry PEACE Park lately?

The new giant cardinal structure perched in the upper play area of the new Coventry PEACE Park, along with climbers, slides, and a zipline.

View Image Gallery

Our Coventry PEACE Park has been under construction since June. The giant cardinal structure is perched in the upper play area, along with climbers, slides, and a zipline, and toddler play equipment is in place in the lower area. The site has been gently graded, and concrete paths are in place to provide sure footing and easy rolling; the retaining wall is in place beside the basketball half court; and the concrete pad is ready for the performance pavilion. Trees are being planted alongside other plantings and ecological features. The construction site is adorned with fence art crafted from upcycled materials, designed and installed by Debbie Apple-Presser, Coventry Village Library Branch Manager Maggie Kinney, and neighbors.

But the new Coventry PEACE Park is more than features and amenities. The park is the people who build and benefit from it; the people who bring their kids to the playground, shop at a pop-up market, attend a library program, enjoy a performance, or just relax and appreciate the beautiful surroundings. It’s the spontaneous conversations that occur, the lifelong friendships, the place where people of all backgrounds can meet and weave our community closer together.

Building the new Coventry PEACE Park is a community project bringing together the citizens, municipal governments, and public library system of two great cities, as well as businesses, nonprofits, houses of worship, artists, actors, musicians, and poets.

To achieve all this, the Fund for the Future of Heights Libraries has helped raise close to $1 million. To pass that milestone—and help fund the additional new trees and playground equipment planned for the site—we need your help.

During our “Make it a Million!” year-end campaign, your donation will be matched up to $36,000, until we pass the million milestone. (The five Heights grads in my family are donating trees to honor Tommy Fello.)  The campaign runs through Dec. 31, and will ensure that PEACE Park continues to be a center for rejuvenation for our entire community and beyond.

To donate online, go to fundforheightslibrary.org. Checks, payable to: Friends of Heights Libraries, memo: Coventry PEACE Park, can be sent to: Heights Libraries, 2345 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 44118.