>>Bennett's Village is a couple of things.

First and foremost, it is a community who are dedicated to creating inclusion in Charlottesville.

It is also a physical playspace at Pen Park.

We have started with the treehouse that you can see behind me, but we have plans to expand Bennett's Village to almost four acres of play for all ages and all abilities.

So my son Bennett had Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

He used a wheelchair to navigate the world.

Bennett was light and joy and laughter.

He was hilarious.

He was flirtatious.

He was kind.

He was incredibly smart.

And he couldn't always get to the things he wanted.

And so he had a way of bringing everyone to him.

Part of the reason I think we named Bennett's Village, "Bennett's Village" is because of that innate ability of him to draw people in.

Thats what, part of what were trying to do is to look for the folks who maybe cant access traditional playspaces or don't feel welcome and to say this is a place for everyone, for all of us together.

>>This is my son Wilson.

He's almost five years old.

Wilson uses a wheelchair because he was born with a genetic disorder, a form of epilepsy that really disrupts the brain.

And so he's non-verbal or non-speaking and is just very, floppy is the word.

He is also a thrillseeker.

He just loves fast movement, big movement, and so loves playing.

Bennett's Village truly is a playground for all.

Wilson will actually be a big brother and, you know, there are playgrounds everywhere, but not so many playgrounds where a typical child, typically developing child and Wilson can go to play together.

And that's also great for grandparents who use mobility aids and just anybody.

Everyone wants to get in on the action.

No one wants to sit on the sidelines.

So we used to have to drive all the way to Richmond, which was the closest all-abilities playspace.

And he asked for his birthday party to be there for his fifth birthday.

But it's over an hour away and some of his friends didn't have cars.

And so I explained to him that it just, it was too far.

When he passed away quite suddenly and quickly, it was really important to his dad and I that we be with his kindergarten classmates and acknowledge this loss that we were still trying to process.

And as we were making our way back out of the school and through the playground, his dad and I turned to each other and we said, "Let's take this pain and also let's take Bennett's light and his joy and let's create the playspace that he envisioned for our community."

I miss him every moment of every day, but, but he continues even now to shape my purpose and my action and my meaning.

And it's beautiful and wonderful and I'm so grateful.

>>Bennetts Village came to us and told us the story and, and her child really loved Pen Park, and we could see that we do have acreage to meet her dreams.

If you look at the footprint of the park, the playground sits way back by the restroom, close to the tennis courts.

But Bennetts Village playing surface will be close to four acres, meaning it will stretch all the way to the parking lot and all the way to the golf property line.

It's very humbling to be a part of something that has never been done within the city of Charlottesville.

>>I'm most excited for Bennett's Village because they have really thought of everything, pathways, changing areas, sensory calm down areas.

Really everything's been thought of.

>>One of the joys of being a part of Bennett's Village is talking to community members and discovering all of the folks who don't find our traditional playspaces to be a place where they are welcome.

One of the wonderful things that we have done in partnership with the City is we, Charlottesville now has its first accessible adult changing table that's open to everyone here at Pen Park.

I've already had so many families come to us and say, "Oh my gosh, you've now, we're now able to stay at the park longer because we don't have to worry about toileting."

Most of our public spaces don't have electrical outlets.

Sometimes Bennett would be in respiratory distress and having the ability to do his treatments literally were lifesaving.

So the first thing that we installed here at Pen Park was a Communication Board.

Communication Boards help those nonverbal members of our community communicate their needs, their wants, their desires, and interact with their friends.

You know, you can point to the icons on the board to express what you wanna play or how you're feeling or what you would like to do.

The big thing that we have done, our latest thing is the opening of our treehouse.

We wanted to show people what inclusive design was about, so it has things like electrical plugs that we talked about.

There is fencing to prevent anyone from accidentally falling off.

It has sensory elements so that you can see the different mosaic tiles.

You can feel the different mosaic tiles.

You can hear the sounds of the birds and the winds coming through the trees.

[Sounds of birds and wind] We have worked with Parks and Rec and with the family of, of Josie Klotz to create Josie's Way, which is the accessible path that is behind and below the treehouse.

Bennett's Village provided the access through the path, and then they are working on exploring other elements of outdoor nature play.

>>So my son was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy when he was about 15 months old.

The, the paved pathway is great for wheelchairs.

You know, when, when we go somewhere, it's not something that people think about.

Going up a single step can be difficult for somebody in a wheelchair.

So when you see a path like this that's all the way around, they're unique and we always take advantage of 'em.

It's the first thing my son wanted to do.

He skirted around the playground and went down the path first.

It's downhill.

It's fun for him to let the brakes go a little bit and just get excited about that.

Whenever there's an inclusive playground like, like this one, all the kids can play together.

They can all get around.

My son can play tag with anybody that's able-bodied and so it just puts 'em on the same playing field, which is unique and something we celebrate.

>>When we finished the treehouse, one of the things we really wanted to do was have a big party, a party in the park, and we brought together community members, allied organizations who believe in inclusive play.

We had student athletes here from UVA.

We had this amazing group of people here to just celebrate and to, to be a part of our awesome community.

>>So when we opened up the treehouse, the community was asking, "What's next?

What's next?"

So they're excited to see what this transformation is going to be.

We have phases from a splash pad to a quiet area to a zipline area.

>>So what we've done so far is just the beginning.

We are working with Mahan Rykiel Associates landscape architects, working with the City and several inclusive place specialists.

The idea is that we will build a section, raise money for the next section, start that in order to try and allow the playspace to remain open while we add to it.

>>We had a ADA assessment plan done in the last year and now the working of the plan is to make all other playgrounds make minor improvements so that all kids can enjoy all spaces.

>>It took a village to care for Bennett.

It took doctors and teachers and nursing students and family members and friends all coming together.

And it's, the same is true with this space that we are creating.

It takes partnerships with Parks and Rec.

It takes partnerships with community organizations and it takes individuals and families saying, "What could I do today to make our community a more inclusive place to play?"