Volunteers build swing set for East Lyme girl
East Lyme — A dozen volunteers worked in teams around a backyard on Saturday morning to hold up beams, steady a foundation and drill in screws to assemble a playground set.
"Excellent job," Pam Zimmerman, a Middletown resident, told her fellow volunteers as they worked on the sunny day. They milled around with pages of instructions amid piles of washers, bolts, wooden beams and window frames.
The group was building the swing set on Saturday as a gift to bring joy to a little girl, Madeline Guarraia, 8, who recently received a bone marrow transplant.
Madeline and her sister Julianne, 7, peered out near their parents from inside their house on Saturday morning, smiling and waving at the volunteers.
Amie Guarraia, Madeline's mother, said Madeline is at home and in remission after being diagnosed with Leukemia, her second bout, in December. Madeline found a perfect match for her bone marrow in her 2-year-old brother, Anthony, and received the transplant in April.
Madeline, who loves nature and being outside, is thrilled that she will have a playground in her backyard, said her mother. The set has swings, a slide, climbing wall, ladders and nooks.
"She's so excited to have a place to play outside with her friends," Amie Guarraia said.
"It makes me feel good, because it shows me that people really care about me," Madeline told her family on Saturday.
The volunteers are part of the "Sunshine Club," a group of employees at New England Financial Group based in West Hartford, which has a satellite office in Waterford.
The group formed about eight years ago and sponsors community-service projects and volunteers at events, including the Special Olympics and the Hartford Marathon.
East Lyme resident Lori Christensen, who works in the Waterford office, had been following updates about Madeline on Facebook and praying for her. She approached an employer at New England Financial Group with the idea of the group helping Madeline.
"Every morning I see her smile and it spreads sunshine to me," said Christensen. "I wondered if we could give some sunshine back to her."
The group raised money for the swing set and decided to build it from morning to afternoon on Saturday.
The Sunshine Club members said they like to help others and wanted to do anything they could for Madeline.
"We're proud of Maddie," Zimmerman said.
Madeline's sister, Julianne, said she is really happy that her sister is home.
"It makes us happy they're making this playground," Julianne added. "It gives us time that we can play together."
Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich
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