A Dublin family donated playground equipment to the Monadnock Area Transitional Shelter in Peterborough last week after the shelter advertized a need for alternate recreation opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shelter’s four apartments serve as transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness, and currently has seven resident children, board member Denise Frankoff said. The Dublin family, who wish to remain anonymous, offered the backyard playground set their children had outgrown soon after MATS began soliciting donations for on-site recreational equipment. It’s set to be dissembled, transported, and reassembled on the MATS property soon, Frankoff said.
Typically, children living at MATS go to the Peterborough Recreation Department’s summer day camp, she said, with MATS securing their tuition via donations. So far this year, the town’s summer programming has been suspended due to COVID-19. “They’re all younger than fourth grade,” Frankoff said. “Without camp, there are not a lot of opportunities for them to have recreational activities,” she said, and that it can exacerbate parents’ housing struggles if childcare responsibilities prevent them from finding work or going to work. It’s important for children’s overall development to be able to move around outside, Frankoff said, and that on-site playground equipment could serve as that opportunity in light of this summer’s limitations. Any person or business wishing to make a monetary donation to MATS can do it through their Facebook page or at matsnh.org, Frankoff said.