Sale to Help Build Church Playground

Home accessory and interior design vendors will donate a percentage of their proceeds from a sidewalk sale Saturday to help raise money for a church playground in honor of a toddler who drowned last summer.

Located in an industrial strip at 31133 Via Colinas, the sale will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Seventeen businesses have agreed to donate their products or a portion of their earnings to the Kelsey Farwell Memorial Fund.

Three-year-old Kelsey drowned in a neighbor’s outdoor spa in August.

Calls to the family poured in the day after Kelsey’s death, said her mother, Cathy Farwell. The family has asked that donations be made to the Farwell’s church, Calvary Community Church on Via Colinas.

Since the church is planning to move about a block away, the donations have been earmarked to build a playground in Kelsey’s name.

So far, community members have raised about $25,000. About $100,000 more is needed to build the playground, which the Farwells hope to open Aug. 24--which would have been Kelsey’s 4th birthday.

Kelsey’s siblings, Brian, 12; Kari, 10, and Michael, 6, are doing OK, Farwell said. “I think we’re doing good. But as a mom, this is the hardest thing in the world you could ever go through.”

Those who would like to make donations to the playground may make checks payable to the Kelsey Farwell Memorial Fund and mail them to Calvary Community Church, 31293 Via Colinas, Westlake Village, CA 91362.