Fundraising efforts underway to rebuild charred Juneau playground

Firefighters wet down playground equipment Monday at the Twin Lakes park. (Photo by Quinton Chandler/KTOO)

Many in the Juneau community responded to the destruction of the Twin Lakes playground by opening their wallets and donating online. Now the City and Borough of Juneau is directing donations to the Juneau Community Foundation.

The Twin Lakes playground, also known as castle park and Project Playground, was a grassroots community effort that the city says accumulated about 17,000 volunteer hours.

“We were there two weekends in a row in the sideways rain,” Suzanne Dutson said. “Shoveling the shredded tires for the flooring, pitching screwdrivers everywhere and hammering nails and just doing whatever we needed to do to try and help build the playground because it was such a wonderful opportunity for us to do that.”

Monday’s suspected arson led her to create an account on GoFundMe to help rebuild. It spread on Facebook forums and raised $4,625 in less than a day.

Now she’s shutting the page down.

“I’ve been contacted by people saying, ‘You know, we’re losing a lot of this money from fees. Let’s do something else,'” she said.

She’d read the fine print: GoFundMe takes nearly 8 percent. That adds up quickly.

“You know, a woman gave $5 and so that’s $0.40. It doesn’t sound like a lot but I have a business who donated $2,000 and, you know, 8 percent of that … $160 of that is going to GoFundMe,” Dutson said. “We can definitely do better.”

There is an alternative: The City and Borough of Juneau is steering donations toward the Juneau Community Foundation.

“What we offer is a nonprofit receiving the funds,” said Executive Director Amy Skilbred. “Any donations to the Juneau Community Foundation would be tax deductible.”

Dutson said she now plans to transfer the funds she’s raised to the Juneau Community Foundation.

“The GoFundMe was a nice foundation but it’s time to move it forward — to something that will preserve the money and the intent for the money,” she said.

It’s too soon to tell how much it will cost to rebuild and the city is talking to its insurance firm in Seattle.

“We have coverage,” Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said. “We expect some level of reimbursement to cover at least design, cleanup, possible materials, etc. We’re looking to see from them what the actual amount of coverage is.”

The city is holding a meeting at 5 p.m. May 2 at Centennial Hall to discuss how to move forward.

“Let’s pause. Let’s grieve,” said Catherine Pusich, one of the playground’s original grassroots organizers. “Let’s work with the city to find out what we need to do as a community to come together to get our playground back.

Juneau Police arrested two 13-year-olds they say admit to starting the fire.

Shredded tires used as soft flooring on the playground is what caused the billowing black smoke that was shared so widely on social media.

Editors’ Note: The Juneau Community Foundation has provided grants to 360 North for Gavel Alaska and maintains the KTOO Legacy Foundation fund.

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

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