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<p>CONYNGHAM &#8212; Four-year-old Ryanne Cara loved to climb, slide and swing at the playground in Whispering Willows Park before a rhinovirus claimed her life in 2015.</p><p>Now, thanks to the kindness and generosity of the community that reached out to Ryanne&#8217;s family after her death, many other children will be able to enjoy playing on new or refurbished slides and swings at Whispering Willows and &#8212; in years to come &#8212; other parks and playgrounds throughout Greater Hazleton.</p><p>Brian Earley, a friend of the Cara family and president of the Remembering Ryanne Cara Foundation, said the family wanted to fund a new playground at the park in Ryanne&#8217;s memory after her death.</p><p>The community kicked in with donations, and on Monday, the family and foundation members gathered at the park to announce the dedication of a new playground there this Sunday.</p><p>John Cara, Ryanne&#8217;s grandfather, said a fundraiser last year &#8220;started out as a simple thing. We just wanted to put up some swings and stuff for them.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We expected maybe a couple hundred dollars donated when my granddaughter died, and ended up with 60-some-thousand. And then we had a festival and ended up with $100,000,&#8221; said John&#8217;s wife, Debbie. &#8220;Almost 600 people sent us cards with money in them. Our community has been &#8230; I can&#8217;t tell you how amazing with what they&#8217;ve done.&#8221;</p><p>Early said that instead of re-doing one playground, &#8220;we thought it would be better to form a foundation and create a true living legacy for Ryanne&#8217;s life. &#8230; So we founded a 501(c)3. It&#8217;s our intention to build playgrounds all across the Greater Hazleton area in any community that needs one.&#8221;</p><p>He said the foundation board hopes to complete one or two playgrounds each year.<ins> Future sites include the LaRock Recreation Area in Sugarloaf Township, a site in Kline Township and another at Weston Park in Black Creek Township.</ins></p><p>With his wife, Vanessa, at his side holding their 8-month-old son, Darryl, and the couple&#8217;s other daughters, Hallie, 4, and Ellena, 3, playing nearby, Matt Cara admitted that working with the foundation on projects in his daughter&#8217;s memory can be tough.</p><p>&#8220;But the community&#8217;s support (enabled us) to build this whole playground just in her memory. So every time we&#8217;re down here and see kids playing on this playground, it&#8217;ll remind us that she&#8217;s playing with us also,&#8221; Matt Cara said.</p><p>The new equipment will arrive Wednesday and installation will take place Thursday and Friday. &#8220;And on Saturday, we&#8217;ll also do a huge beautification of the whole playground down here &#8212; new mulch everywhere, maybe plant some shrubs, some flowers, whatever else we think the playground can use,&#8221; he added.</p><p>Then at 1 p.m. Sunday, &#8220;we&#8217;ll have a dedication we&#8217;d like to invite everybody out to. We&#8217;ll have some light refreshments after that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Just a huge thank you to the whole community for coming out and &#8230; helping us make Ryanne&#8217;s Playground a reality.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It makes us feel like we&#8217;re loved by the community to a certain extent,&#8221; said John Cara. &#8220;But it also shows that the community has enough sense to give money for something that&#8217;s for kids, and that&#8217;s the future.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hallie Cara, 4, and her sister Ellena, 3, play with their maternal grandmother, Becky Rossi, on equipment that will be refurbished later this week at Whispering Willow Park in Conyngham. A new playground will be dedicated Sunday in memory of the girls&#8217; sister, Ryanne, who died in 2015. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_RyannePark_02.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hallie Cara, 4, and her sister Ellena, 3, play with their maternal grandmother, Becky Rossi, on equipment that will be refurbished later this week at Whispering Willow Park in Conyngham. A new playground will be dedicated Sunday in memory of the girls&#8217; sister, Ryanne, who died in 2015. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_Ryanne_mug.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ryanne </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_Ryanne_mug.jpg</photo1><caption1>Ryanne </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_RyannePark_01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Matthew Cara takes his son, Darryl, 8 months, from his wife, Vanessa, in Whispering Willow Park in Conyngham at the site of a new playground to be installed later this week and dedicated Sunday to their daughter Ryanne, who died in 2015. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_RyannePark_01.jpg</photo2><caption2>Matthew Cara takes his son, Darryl, 8 months, from his wife, Vanessa, in Whispering Willow Park in Conyngham at the site of a new playground to be installed later this week and dedicated Sunday to their daughter Ryanne, who died in 2015. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WHAT&#8217;S NEXT</strong></p><p>Brent Radzwich, Ryanne Cara&#8217;s uncle and vice president of the Remembering Ryanne Cara Foundation, said the second annual Ryanne&#8217;s Ride and Festival will be June 3 from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. at LaRock Grove, 142 Cabin Lane, Sugarloaf Township.</p><p>Admission is $5, with those 14 and under admitted free.</p><p>Because Ryanne loved to ride quads, there will also be a quad, ATV and dirt bike ride on the nearby 400 acres, with the $5 admission waived for those registered for the ride.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Greater Hazleton parks project to honor late 4-year-old