Ron and Shirlee Locicero are spearheading MH’s inclusive playground project
Published in the May 25 – June 7, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Photo by Marty Cheek
Shirlee and Ron Locicero were one of 12 recipients of the Crystal Bowl Award given to by the Junior League of San Jose, a nonprofit women’s service group.
Shirlee and Ron Locicero have a passion to make Morgan Hill and the South Valley a place that’s fun for all families. The longtime community residents are the visionaries behind the Morgan Hill Inclusive Playground, a project that, when completed, will create a “universally accessible” park with play equipment for children of all physical and mental abilities.
Both Lociceros spent much of their careers in public education. After retiring from that field, Ron took up real estate with Intero. But the couple wanted to give back to the community and so searched for a project they both could be excited about putting their time and energy into. While watching the news one night, they saw a segment on the Tatum’s Garden inclusive playground in Salinas. They then realized they had a project.
In 2014, Ron joined the Morgan Hill Parks and Recreation Commission with an intention that the city’s volunteer group would be a great place to start in making the idea of an inclusive playground a reality. During the span of 18 months, the Morgan Hill Inclusive Playground has moved forward, with the city providing land at Community Park as well as $400,000 in funding to get the project started. The success of the ambitious project led the Junior League of San Jose, a nonprofit women’s service group, to honor the Lociceros April 22 as one of its 12 recipients of the Crystal Bowl Award at its 47th Annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon.
Ron and Shirlee Locicero
Photo by Marty Cheek
“I just thought that was so impressive. The Junior League does such a fantastic job to honor people in the community who are doing volunteer service,” Shirlee said. “In the past few years that I’ve been attending that event, I’m always impressed with what people are doing and I wouldn’t even know about that if the Junior League didn’t make a special luncheon in honor of volunteerism. I certainly didn’t think I would be up on the stage receiving an award.”
Ron said the recognition was an opportunity to let people know about the playground and possibly obtain support for the project.
“We’ve noticed since we went to the luncheon that a lot of people talked to us about the park and asked how they could get in touch with what we’re doing,” he said. “A couple said they would talk to potential donors for us.”
The playground project’s team needs to raise $4.2 million to fully fund the park as it is now drawn up. The city required that $2.5 million or more be donated before they would start the process of getting permits.
“As soon as we pass $2.5 million, we’re going to push the button to get it started,” Ron said. “I thought the people of Morgan Hill needed something more than just the usual playgrounds. Shirlee and I visited the (city) parks and they were nice, but there wasn’t things set up for special needs children.”
Morgan Hill’s Community Services Director Chris Ghione described working on this project with the team Ron and Shirlee have built as “exciting” and sees many benefits for Morgan Hill in developing a playground with equipment that children with special needs can play alongside everyone else.
“The passion that Ron and Shirlee bring to the project inspires others,” he said. “When you have those times when the group asks, who needs to do this, everyone kind of goes silent for a moment. And then Ron and Shirlee will say, ‘We’ll do it,’ and they get it done. It’s inspiring the work they do.”
Shirlee taught special education for two years,and then returned to the regular education classes. With the knowledge and experience she gained from working with children with special needs, she sees how important it is for these young people to be included with the rest of the group.
“So many times they are not,” she said. “And that’s one of the things I just love about the project — now they will be part of the activities and part of the fun and be able to really enjoy themselves just like the other kids.”
