Woodbury Punch Pizza Event Supports Madison’s Place Playground

Hundreds turned out Wednesday at the new Woodbury Punch Pizza for a fundraiser for the Madison Claire Foundation, which is working to build a playground for kids of all abilities at the Bielenberg Sports Center.

The pizza shop donated food, collected donations and kicked in $5,000 for the foundation, which, before the event, was about $300,000 short of its $1 million goal for the project.

Madison’s Place is the brainchild of Woodbury resident Dana Millington, whose daughter Madison suffered from spinal muscular atrophy and died in 2004 at age 2.

She said it was “awesome” to see so many people come out and support the project.

Kiki Millington, Madison’s sister, helped organize the event. Her cousin Brian Jameson is a manager at Punch, which often tries to help youth-oriented projects when it opens a new restaurant.

“It was really a perfect fit,” Kiki said.

She said she hoped the event built awareness for Madison’s Place, adding that the fundraiser could be the difference between getting a $25,000 metal slide for the playground or a plastic one. Children with hearing aids sometimes have problems with static that can develop on plastic slides, Kiki said.

The Madison Claire Foundation hopes to break ground on the new playground in the spring or summer of 2014, Dana said. The group is now looking for corporate sponsors whose names would adorn a sign at the playground, which will be built adjacent to the expanded Bielenberg Sports Center.

“(Punch Pizza) is a great business to have here,” Dana said. “I think it’s going to be great for Woodbury.”

For more information about the project, visit the Madison Claire Foundation website.

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