Memorial Playground Takes Shape On Winchester

Pilar Sanzari dug her gloved hands in some freshly poured soil to plant a colorful array of Shasta daisies, azaleas, petunias, and marigolds — as a vibrantly hued new playground took root behind her in honor of a beloved late Yale professor and substance use treatment researcher.

Sanzari helped put those finishing floral touches on the playground construction effort Friday morning in the backyard of 660 Winchester Ave.

That former Ivy Street School site is now home to a transitional housing, training, and support program for homeless New Haveners, as run by the long-time local homelessness services nonprofit Christian Community Action.

Over the course of just two days on Thursday and Friday, several hundred volunteers showed up to 660 Winchester’s backyard to build what now stands as the Kathy Carroll Playground.

The red, yellow, and blue expanse of slides and climbing walls and other children-sized outdoor play equipment is named in honor of Carroll, a clinical scientist and psychiatry professor at Yale and a committed Christian Community Action volunteer who died in December 2020 at 62 years old.

The playground construction effort was led by the Where Angels Play Foundation, a firefighter-fueled New Jersey-based group that specializes in building memorial playgrounds. It’s built more than 60 such playscapes in the wake of such tragedies as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Sandy Hook school shooting.

“It’s still surreal,” said Carroll’s daughter Kate Chivian, a street homelessness outreach worker who drove down from her home in Boston to help lead the playground construction effort. After two and a half years of fundraising and planning, she marveled, in just two days of building, the playground is now up — and a fitting tribute to her mom, who cared so deeply about helping those most in need.

“It’s been exhausting emotionally,” said another one of the local playground building effort leaders, Charla Nich. ​“Kathy was all about community and lifting people up and helping children,” she said. ​“This is Kathy to have all of these people” — roughly 320 in total — ​“come together” to build this playground.

Many of those on scene on Friday had traveled from states and towns away to make this playground a reality.

Those included Bruce Pollock (pictured above), a retired New Jersey firefighter who was busy packing up the Where Angels Play truck, which carried all of the wrenches and plyers and cement mixing tools and other hardware from the Garden State to Winchester Avenue to bring this playground into being …

… and Ron Wetmore, a retired Milford firefighter who spent much of Thursday mixing concrete and, with a cigar in hand, recalled just how meaningful it is to volunteer on a project like this to ​“help families heal” …

… and Cheryl Piroscafo, who drove up from Tennessee with her boyfriend to work on yet another Where Angels Play-built playground and spend time with the ​“family” of fellow volunteers she’s met while working on projects led by this same foundation …

… and Sanzari, who also drove up from Jersey to work in the dirt with her friends to build out another memorial playground.

Why did she decide to drive across state lines to dive in the dirt and help build a playground in honor of Carroll?

“Why wouldn’t I volunteer?” she asked. ​“It’s a very rewarding project. It helps me heal,” as it helps others who have suffered tragedies and loss. Sanzari said she started working on these memorial playgrounds after Sandy Hook. She’s helped build dozens since.

She gestured towards other volunteers who have also worked on playground after playground after playground over the years. ​“We are a big family.”