As her little brother lunged for the playground the Schneider family was approaching in Reservoir Park, 8-year-old Stella couldn’t hide her disappointment. Everything on the playground required that her body climb up and down, or scamper across rickety bridges, or that her legs kick to swing.
Stella, relying on a walker, stayed back. She’d been recovering from major brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor and this marked her first time venturing outside for play. But when her mother, Rese Schneider, asked if she wanted to join her brother Jake on the playground, Stella told her, “This isn’t for me.” Rese Schneider crouched down to be eye level with her daughter and heard herself say back, “I’ll build you one.”
“What made me say such a thing? I have no background in building playgrounds or anything of the sort, but as a parent going through this journey, I would give my limbs to fix this for Stella ― I would do anything,” Rese Schneider said.
But all it took was a handful of enthusiastic people who were already rooting for Stella and the Schneider family. At every turn, when Rese Schneider pitched the idea, she got a resounding, “Heck, yeah.”
If donors and community members continue saying yes, by the summer of 2026, the City of Milwaukee will have its first universally accessible and inclusive playground.
Named in her honor, Stella’s Playground would replace the current playground on the north end of Reservoir Park, located on East Meinecke Avenue between North Booth and North Bremen streets. The design is inspired by some of Stella’s favorite things: dragons, the color purple and a world of magic.
Reservoir Park is a special place for Stella and Rese Schneider. Before Stella’s cancer diagnosis, the two would run to the park from their house nearby in Riverwest to catch the sunsets. They’d walk their two dogs around the park’s perimeter and Stella would play on the monkey bars, which remains her favorite feature of the playground.
“The cruelty of it all is that she remembers what it was like to run out to the playground with her friends or do all the things she used to do,” Rese Schneider said. “She knows that is missing from her life.”
The hope of this playground, said Elizabeth Mueller, a close friend of Rese Schneider’s who has picked up the gauntlet as the project manager for Stella’s Playground, is that nobody thinks twice about using the facilities, regardless of their abilities.
“That’s what play should be ― a place where everyone can come and have spontaneous joy and happiness,” Mueller said.
Stella’s story
Stella was 6 years old when she and her parents learned she had a cancerous tumor in her brain. By the time she entered third grade, she had endured dozens of life-saving surgeries that required her to relearn how to swallow, walk, talk and smile.
Those treatments ranged from radiation therapy to chemotherapy and have required the Schneiders to travel from Rochester, Minnesota, to Boston, Massachusetts. Sometimes, before radiation treatment, she’d have speech therapy, physical therapy or occupational therapy. The ongoing treatments and surgeries, though critical, left her face paralyzed.
Through it all, she was determined to heal, Rese Schneider said. When Make-a-Wish Wisconsin visited Stella in the hospital, she had three wishes: to walk again, to smile again and to have her long hair back.
Another time, following a long day of walking on a treadmill and doing multiple therapy sessions, Stella occupied herself by coloring. When a physical therapist asked Stella if she was tired, she replied, “Tired is not a word I use,” and continued coloring.
“That’s my favorite story of all time. When you understand that story, you understand Stella,” Rese Schneider said.
An alderman’s legacy
Mueller took Rese Schneider’s pitch for a playground to the late Jonathan Brostoff, an alderman and former representative who went to great lengths to push and advocate for people with disabilities. Brostoff’s children attended the same school as Stella and her little brother, and he thought creating an inclusive park was vital for the community.
Brostoff’s reputation to make quick, meaningful connections did not disappoint. He connected Mueller with Joe Kaltenberg, the City of Milwaukee’s Parks Manager. That connection led to discussions with the mother behind Kayla’s Playground, a universally accessible playground in Franklin.
And it ignited conversations across the City of Milwaukee, from Mayor Cavalier Johnson to Alderwoman Milele Coggs, whose footprint includes Reservoir Park. Like everyone else being pitched the idea for Stella’s Playground, Johnson and Coggs responded with rousing voices of support.
“Jonathan was foundational for us to do this, and I know he’s here with us today,” Mueller said. “We’ll be finding a way to honor him at the park once it’s complete.”
The City showed its support with a gift of $200,000, funds previously allocated to improve accessibility in city parks. Stella’s volunteer group aims to raise $2 million in cash and in-kind donations to bring Stella’s vision to life.
That amount is a healthy budget for a park of this size, Kaltenberg said.
What makes Stella’s Playground ‘universally accessible and inclusive’
Although all of Milwaukee’s 52 parks are technically accessible, the bar for meeting those legal standards is low, said Kaltenberg. The goal of Stella’s Playground is to have “shoulder-to-shoulder opportunities for play for kids with vulnerabilities,” Kaltenberg said.
That will look like a uniform playground surface that allows for ease of movement for wheelchairs and walkers; ramps; and other elements designed to accommodate different mobility devices.
The City will be working with Play By Design, a company of playground designers focused on all-inclusive playground structures. The company has worked on accessible playgrounds elsewhere in Wisconsin, such as Possibility Playground in Port Washington, Burnstad’s Adventure Playground in Tomah, Dream Playground at Petzke Park in Kenosha, and Kayla’s Playground in Franklin.
Important to the process, Kaltenberg said, the City will be engaging the local community to get feedback and new ideas.
Already, discussions have broadened Kaltenberg’s perspective. He’s learned that certain high-contrast color combinations are cumbersome to people with visual impairments. Basketball courts often invite high-intensity competition, which can alienate people with disabilities who want to play ball on their own terms.
“A lot of this is easy to do and doesn’t cost anything else at a normal playground,” Kaltenberg said. “There’s a lot of different strategies that I’m excited to learn more about, that how those could be deployed and replicated at other parks as well.”
Fundraising campaign announced on Stella’s 9th birthday
On the blustery morning of May 7, Stella had a small birthday celebration on the grounds that will become Stella’s Playground. She turned 9 as her mom and dad, Robert Schneider, announced that, come Stella’s 10th birthday, they hope to celebrate on her playground.
Stella and her two best friends ate cupcakes and shared secrets beneath the grownups. Everyone wore purple, a nod both to Stella and a color that will feature prominently at her playground. As they posed for a picture, Stella’s lips curled into a smile, the first one captured since her string of surgeries.
A tear came to Mueller’s eyes.
“Stella, like her name suggests, has a galactical pull, and her smile is one way that she shows that,” Mueller said.
Stella’s headed to Boston next weekend for a second facial reanimation surgery, Rese Schneider said. It was Stella’s choice.
“She wants her beautiful smile back,” Rese Schneider said.
To donate, visit stellasplayground.org/donate.
Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her X (Twitter) profile at @natalie_eilbert.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The story behind Stella’s Playground, which could be Milwaukee’s first inclusive playground
Reporting by Natalie Eilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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