We did it. Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child; sometimes it takes a whole mountain. As I stood in the middle of our beautiful new playground by the pool in Redwood Estates and watched the kids swinging and climbing and exploring, I was struck by the thought of the many years and the many, many people it has taken to get to this point. It has taken all of you.

Remember that old, rusty, broken, dangerous equipment that was here for almost fifty years? The kids played, and the parents cringed. Some of us decided we wanted something safer for our kids, and that we were going to do something about it. It has taken eight difficult years for our dreams to become reality. In the process, we have all learned valuable lessons in the bonds of partnerships, the heartaches of politics, the diversity of opinions, and the ultimate joy of dedication and achievement. We have all been volunteers in the process and we are all to be congratulated on our enormous success.

All of you who have ever been to one of the Redwood Estates Community Club events that sponsored the park project in the past eight years—Dumpster Day, Earth Day Picnic, Silent Auctions, Blackberry Festivals, including the 230 of you who made handprint tiles for the Tile Wall in the park—you have helped make this park happen. If you or your local business generously donated to our auctions (too many to name, though I wish I could), then we have all been partners in this adventure. And Community Foundation Silicon Valley gave us a grant towards installation of the Tile Wall. On behalf of the children, thank you.

We need to honor those who have made this success possible: the lovingly diligent members of the Community Club, past and present, with whom I have shared the burdens and victories of this project, who worked and struggled tirelessly, including the amazing Karen Brodine, who spearheaded this venture from the beginning, Katie Jeffery, Catherine Crawford, Heidi Lewis, Dave D’Arcey, Laurie Boswell, Karen Demers, Karen Rajczi, Debra and Jerry Welch, Lynelle Hanck, Nancy Field, Evan Lloyd, Erica Goss-Peters, Maureen Savage, Maureen Ward, Norm Fraga, Caroline Roberson, Karen Johnson, Lisa Orcutt, Patti Rosetti, and so many others who have helped at our events. We thank our generous angel Bill Turano, whose donated equipment was never used, but whose efforts spurred us into the quest for greater funding. And that led us to the wonderful people from First 5 of Santa Clara County. They believed that our driven group of mountain parents—who spent two years joining panels, attending meetings and focus groups, gathering research, making presentations, and demonstrating community support—were worthy of $459,000 of the state’s cigarette tax money for two community parks. We believe we have shown them our value, and we thank them deeply for helping make our community even stronger and safer for our kids.

And we are sincerely thankful for the partnership of the many members of the Redwood Estates community board of directors who have also volunteered so much of their time and talents to continue this process through to the end, including presidents Ted Gehrke, Dave Davis, and (for the last and most challenging years) Don Peters. We certainly could not have done it without our shared belief in the value of serving the community.

There has always been more to the plan—a playing field with a track, a picnic area, landscaping, and bathrooms, and we can hope for those for the future. But for now, we can stand in the middle of Friendship Park and say, "We did this for our children and our community," and be proud. Thank you all.