Wes Lane, shown here, generously donated the funds to build this new playground.  Photo provided by Children's Home.

 BLOOMINGTON — In memory of a Bloomington business owner’s late son, the Children’s Foundation of Children’s Home + Aid recently opened Matthew’s Playground, a playground that children in foster care can use when their parents visit them.

The playground, consisting of a slide, fort, swing set, climbing apparatus, picnic table, grassy area and a full bed of wood chips under all of the equipment, officially opened October 20.
The playground area is “completely fenced in and safe” and not open to the public, said Lisa Pieper, regional vice president of the Children’s Foundation.
Children’s Foundation of Children’s Home + Aid opened the playground outside of their administration building, 403 S. State St., Bloomington, “so children in foster care could have a family-friendly, outdoor place to participate in parent child visits together,” said Pieper.
“Most parents take their children out to play, and we want to give kids in foster care those normal, family experiences,” said Pieper. “With the playground in Matthew’s name, we can do that.”

Photo provided by Children's Home.

The child welfare agency named the playground after Matthew Lane, who died two weeks shy of his 17th birthday in 1982.
Matthew’s father, Wes Lane of Chenoa has donated over $40,000 to the Children’s Foundation of Children’s Home + Aid over the past 20 years.
“Over time, his donations have gone to support multiple programs and projects specifically designed to help children,” said Pieper. “This honors the spirit of Wes’s gifts that were made in his son’s memory and it directly helps kids.”
Owner of Midwest Exchange in Bloomington and Pontiac Exchange in Pontiac, Wes Lane was “honored” when he heard the agency named the playground in dedication to his son.
“I was honored by it,” said Lane.
Lane started donating money to the child welfare agency “when I started making money.”
“My preference is children’s concerns and I donated money to them and I donated to other things that involved children,” said Lane.
When Lane started donating money, he sent the agency $50 a week. Now he donates money to the agency once or twice a month.
Along with the construction of the playground, Lane’s donations have financed other facilities and programs for Children’s Foundation of Children’s Home + Aid, including a home-like visitation room for parents to visit their children who are in foster care and field trips for children in the agency’s early learning center.

Photo provided by Children's Home.

“Recently we also opened an additional visitation room inside the agency, which was also dedicated to Wes’s son,” said Pieper.
Lane has declined to publicly discuss the details of his son’s death.
“He (Matthew) was intelligent, had a great sense of humor and was a hard worker,” said Lane. “He just died before his time.”
Headquartered in Bloomington, the Children’s Foundation of Children’s Home + Aid has been a resource for the most disadvantaged, low-income families of McLean County and surrounding areas for almost 120 years. The agency offers a comprehensive array of services and programs that annually serve the needs of more than 3,000 children and families in McLean County and surrounding areas.

To donate to the Children’s Foundation of Children’s Home + Aid, visit www.childrenshomeandaid.org.