! KEITH O'CONNOR NATE BLAIS & MICHELLE JOHNSON
Macie's Place
K
ids are making a “big splash” at the new Macie’s Place at Field Road Park in Somers, CT, thanks to a couple wanting to give back to a community who gave them so much in their time of need. Macie’s Place is a splash pad, which had its grand opening on July 8, that is operated by the Somers Recreation Department and offers a fun and cooling experience on some of the hottest days of summer. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., but closes from 12:30
to 2:30 p.m. to accommodate the Recreation Department’s Day Camp during July and August. In December 2007, Wendy and Bill McCloskey lost their daughter Macie Grace to Trisomy 13 when she was just six days old. Trisomy 13 is a chromosomal condition associated with severe intellectual disability and physical abnormalities in many parts of the body. Due to the presentation of several life-threatening medical problems, many infants with Trisomy
13 die within their first days or weeks of life. “Little by little, we just wanted to do something for the town because the town was just amazing when we went through this,” Wendy stated on the Recreation Department’s website. So, the couple approached the Somers Recreation Department with a vision to bring a splash pad to Somers. “The community - friends, teachers, classmates, kids Bill coached and so many others - were very GOLOCALMAGAZINES.COM 37
