Farmington Evening Lions Donate $5,000 to Tibbetts All-Abilities Park Foundation

On Wednesday, Nov 19, 2025, Farmington Evening Lions Club donated $5,000 to the Tibbetts All-Abilities Park Foundation, known as TAAP.  Our Global Causes include supporting the Youth, Youth Cancer and disabled Youth.    This is an ongoing project for our club, one that began as a brainchild of one of our members, Lion Marilyn Montoya.  This project will allow them to build a park where people with disabilities can play alongside others.  The park is now open and Phase 2 fundraising is underway.

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In 2016, while performing an eye screening on a child, it was a difficult screening.  Marilyn told the child to open their eyes great big, like they were going high on a swing.  The child’s caretaker told Marilyn that they had never been on a swing.  It proved to be a defining moment.  Marilyn decided at that moment that she had to do something.  A child needs a way to play on a swing, and other parts of a playground.

She started researching, not only on how to go about planning that type of a playground, but how to get the funding and the property for such a large project.  She began by teaming up with Dr. Katie Ashley Harper and Jessie Lazenby.  They formed the TAAP Foundation, contacted Farmington Schools about the property that used to be Tibbetts Jr. High, and began fundraising.  These were the first of many, many steps to build a park where disabled children could play with other children, doing things that they had only wished they could do.  The park is not limited to children.  It will also service Adults. 

In our ongoing support of the project, we are happy to give this donation to TAAP.  We raise the funds with many community fundraisers throughout the year, including work at the Entry Booths at the San Juan County Fair; the Read & Roar Car show; seat donations at the Anasazi Amphitheater at the Lions Wilderness Park, and other community events.  All proceeds stay in our community and are used locally to help with the needs of and within our community.

We would like to thank Marilyn Montoya, Dr. Katie Ashley Harper, Jessie Lazenby and all of the TAAP Foundation for all the work they have done and continue to do on this project.