MANASQUAN — A new children’s playground is sprouting up on Sea Watch beach, right where one was washed away nine months earlier by superstorm Sandy.
The new playground is as much of an honor to a different Sandy victim — Olivia Rose Engel, of Newtown, Conn. — as it is a rebuilding effort in the borough. Olivia was one of the 26 victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She was 6 years old when her life was taken.
“It’s nice that something positive is coming through this,” said Shannon Engel, Olivia’s mother. “It’s a place now for kids to have fun.”
Shannon, her husband Brian, and their 4-year old son Brayden traveled to the borough Thursday to witness the playground being built in memory of and named after the daughter and sister they lost in the Dec. 14 shooting. They reminisced about Olivia, a child they said adored butterflies, dragonflies and the ocean.
“Olivia loved the beach and collecting shells,” Brian Engel said of his daughter. “This is perfect.”
The $100,000 playground’s construction was the culmination of a combined effort by SquanStrong, a Manasquan nonprofit group that organized relief efforts after the superstorm, and The Sandy Ground: Where Angels Play project, an initiative of the New Jersey State Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association Foundation.
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Dana Connolly, the president of SquanStrong, said the bond between the Sandy Hook families and Manasquan was built in the wake of superstorm Sandy and the Newtown tragedy when both communities reached out to each other with support.
“For us, the Sandy playground was a perfect fit,” Connolly said. “We’re getting a new playground and we’re doing the very best we can to honor Olivia.”
About 40 volunteers, largely foundation firefighters, and staff from Giordano Contracting of Kenilworth, worked to erect the playground’s swings, slides and monkey bars. The effort was cut short by rain Thursday but will continue today, organizers said.
SquanStrong, with help from the foundation and New Jersey Education Association, raised the money for the playground’s construction, they said. Funds came in from everywhere from students’ penny jars to larger donors.
Five-year old Jake Romano of Manasquan chose to donate his piggy bank.
“This is our beach, so that was his playground,” said Lori Romano, Jake’s mom. “He made sure he donated his bag of change to SquanStrong.”
Olivia’s playground is the seventh of 26 “Where Angels Play” playgrounds to be built in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Each one will be named after a victim of the Dec. 14 tragedy in Newtown.
“Olivia is here with us in a very real way today,” said William Lavin, foundation president.
When the ribbon-cutting ceremony is held at 6 p.m. today at Sea Watch beach, Connolly said attendees will release 126 butterflies at the playground and 26 Chinese lanterns over the ocean in memory of her and those who died in Newtown.
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