Young Playground Donors –

Children’s Generosity Comes Back To Them In Spades

By Tanjua Damon

Good things do come in small packages. The Erhardt siblings’ good deed of donating $52 to help rebuild the Treadwell Park Playground after it had been burned down has brought them the very things for which they had been saving before they made their donation.

Spencer, 6, and Madison, 4, had been out of town when the news first broke about the damage to the newly built playground at Treadwell Park. But when they got home and saw it on television and read it in the newspaper, Spencer got his piggy bank with Madison right behind him, and decided to give the money he was saving for a Game Boy cartridge and what she was saving for a “white horsey” to help rebuild the playground.

Well, their kindness has brought more community unity to Newtown. Anonymous donations have refunded the siblings’ money to them in their Sand Hill Road mailbox. Not only has money been left, but also Spencer received the Game Boy cartridge he had been saving for.

Even more amazingly, someone has offered Madison a horse of her own, and she even got to ride a white pony like the one the four-year-old has always dreamed about.

 Michele Oren, a manager at a farm for retired thoroughbred racehorses in Poughquag, New York, called the Erhardt home and offered Madison her very own white horse.

Although Lynne Erhardt is thankful for the offer, she and her husband, Scott, have decided that now is not the right time for Madison to have a horse.

“Not right now. We had no idea that any of this would come about,” Mrs Erhardt said. “Certainly not to be offered a horse. When she gets older, we’ll reconsider it.”

Even though Madison will not be getting her very own “horsey” at this time, Helene and Kenneth Williams of Haweyville were drinking their morning coffee on Friday when they thought of the idea to offer Madison a ride on their two white ponies Charity and Hope.

“We were upset about the playground. We saw that she wanted a white animal,” Mr Williams said. “We have worked with children and ponies over the last nine to ten years.”

Madison arrived at the Williams’ ready to ride, according to Mr Williams. She brushed the ponies and fed them some carrots and led them around.

“I’d have kept her in a minute. She is an amazing little girl,” Mr Williams said. “There was no coaching or anything. I thought that was pretty terrific. It’s just nice to be able to do. It made my day. She’s a great little girl We had an enjoyable couple of hours.”

Madison has been interested in horses, white ones in particular, according to Mrs Erhardt, since she has been recovering from a Wilms’ Tumor, a rare childhood cancer. She was diagnosed with the tumor when she was three, but is expected to live a full and normal life.

“They are pretty,” Madison said about why she likes horses. “I want one to train.”

Mrs Erhardt is proud of her children for their kindness and willingness to give up money they had been saving.

“We have talked to our children since last Monday. We don’t want the kids to think that when they do something nice that they will always be rewarded,” Mrs Erhardt said. “I’m so proud. What they did is a great thing.”

Spencer took a copy of the news video to Sandy Hook School, where he attends first grade, to show his classmates, according to Mrs Erhardt. A classmate called him a hero.

The Treadwell playground was torched on October 25, only four days after volunteers had put the structure together. It was one of two playgrounds planned for Treadwell Park. The first was for two- to five-year-olds. The playground committee plans to rebuild the playground before the end of the year. Over $32,000 has been donated since the destruction.

Fundraising efforts for the second playground for older children are still underway in hopes it will be built in the spring. The cost for both structures is almost $90,000. A Casino Night is planned for this Saturday at the Fireside Inn, starting at 6:30 pm.