Shortly after the unofficial public meeting to discuss the improvements to Church Square Park playgrounds proposed by Project Play, the community group has rolled out its most sweeping fundraising strategy to date: a letter-distribution campaign to local parents.

The group, which has managed to rally donations from several local businesses, is now trying to rouse a groundswell of support from the parents of school-aged kids in Hoboken.

Project Play is distributing a letter to students in the Hoboken Public Schools, who are in turn being asked to relay the letters to their parents. Students in all of Hoboken's public and private schools can expect to be given the letter and the letters will even be distributed to kids at pre-K and day care programs throughout the Mile Square.

Project Play's letter brings those residents who haven't heard of the initiative up to speed on what the group has accomplished in terms of fundraising thus far, and what it intends to accomplish in terms of renovations to three playground areas going forward.

The letter also includes two pictures of ground toys in the playground that have fallen into disrepair—one of the inspiring factors behind the Project Play cause. The letter goes on to cite several statistics about available park space in Hoboken and makes a case for the necessity of the proposed improvements.

"According to Hoboken's 'Master Plan' the current existing total [of parks and open space] is approximately 30 acres of parks," the letter reads.

"When compared to Hoboken's 2000 population of 38,577, this amount results in a ratio of .78 acres per 1,000 residents. This is only 30% of New York City's standards of 2.5 acres of open space per 1,000 residents. Given Hoboken's severe lack of parkland, it is essential that our existing parks be maintained and updated," the letter states.

According to Zabrina Stoffel of Project Play, the first wave of letters, about 380 in total, was sent home with students from the Brandt School, the Calabro School and the Wallace School last Thursday and more are slated to be distributed this week. About 2,500 letters will be sent home with students, Stoffel said. Parents who've already seen the communiqué know that the second-to-last paragraph is a donation request.

"Please consider a tax deductible donation to help Project Play to improve our great City. We estimate that there are 5,000 families living in Hoboken. If each family contributed $25 or more we will raise the $125,000 we need to begin construction in the Fall," the letter (which you can read in the attached PDF) says.

Reaction to the letter-writing campaign by parents interviewed in Church Square Park was almost completely supportive.

"I would do it," Malin Kallberg-Shroff, 35, said of making a $25 donation. Kallberg-Shroff, who has a 4-year-old child and a 5-month-old baby, said that she backs the proposed renovations, but cautioned that such a donation is fundamentally unnecessary because the city should be able to afford these types of improvements.

"I'd be reluctantly doing it," she said. "We talk about it all the time among the moms and we feel our tax dollars should be going to that." Kallberg-Shroff continued, "Our kids are at the age they are now, and so we want them to play safely and I will do it just because of that."

"I definitely will make the donation. I have three kids and they all play here every single day," said Verna Pazaras, 33, who has a 6-year-old and 2-year-old twins. "And we've gotten splinters here before," she added.

"I think it's a reasonable amount of money to ask for and I would donate that," said Keia Thompson, 35, the mother of a 5-year-old boy. "I think it would be nice to have these parks renovated for the kids," said Thompson, adding that she feels like Church Square Park could be maintained better than it generally is.

Of all seven people interviewed in Church Square Park about Project Play's donation letters, Patch encountered one dissenting voice.

"I don't mind the way it currently is," said one resident while pushing his child on a swing. "I think people throw away stuff that's working perfectly too often in this world anyway, so I would like to see it stay the way it is," said the man, who declined to give his name and age because he said his wife is friends with some people involved in Project Play.

"I like old stuff," the man continued. "I wish they had big monkey bars like they used to have, but that wasn't so P.C." When asked whether he'd make the $25 donation, he said Project Play will "get money from my family," but not because of his support.

When questioned about it, not a single person expressed any concern over how the donation money would be managed or that certain monies might not make it to the cause for which it was donated.

Rachel Matthai, the Director of Finance for the Hoboken Family Alliance (HFA), the nonprofit parents organization under whose auspices Project Play is being operated, said anyone who is thinking about making a donation shouldn't be deterred by the specter of mismanagement or impropriety.

Matthai said that all of the money donated to Project Play is earmarked and then deposited into the HFA general account. All of the funds raised by Project Play are tracked by the HFA, as are all of the group's expenditures.

Matthai said the HFA keeps close tabs on Project Play funds and that the group will be allowed to spend its money only on future Project Play-related fundraisers or the actual renovations if and when they are begun.

So, how'd Project Play get the school district on-board with the letter campaign?

Stoffel, essentially the face of Project Play, said that early childhood education director Jessica Peters played a key role in liaising between the school district and Project Play to make the letter campaign possible. When contacted by Patch, Interim Superintendent Peter Carter said assistant superintendent Walter Rusak authorized the distribution of Project Play flyers to students at the Brandt School only.

Carter said he was surprised to learn that letters were being distributed throughout the school system, but said he did not intend to interfere with the process.

"We are absolutely in support of Project Play," said Carter. "We support them wholeheartedly."

Stoffel credits her sidekick Regina Gannon with having conceived the letter campaign, which, Stoffel said, casts a wide net and has the potential for a great return.

"It's a great way to get more community involvement leading up the next public meeting," Stoffel said.

The next meeting, the first officially-sanctioned one according to the Open Public Meetings Act, is scheduled for sometime in early July.