Community
In 2013 Shawn and Amanda Bakker, owners of Bakker Construction, founded the Tatum’s Garden Foundation in honor of their daughter Tatum who was born with Spina Bifida. We understood that childhood is an important time, filled with critical opportunities to interact socially and strengthen the imagination. Unfortunately, special needs children are often excluded from activities when facilities are not capable of accommodating those with disabilities. Being parents to a special needs child, we made it our mission to give all children a place to play, grow, and learn together.
This is why we worked so hard to bring our vision for Tatum’s Garden, Monterey County’s first all-inclusive playground, to life. It was truly a full community effort, from fundraising and design, to the actual community build (bringing thousands of people together to build the playground from the ground up).
We started the Tatum’s Garden Foundation to design, build and provide full time private care and maintenance of the park, and have now worked to bring more accessible playgrounds to our community, with the completion of Tatum’s Treehouse, in Carmel Valley, in 2024. This was a beautiful joint effort between the Tatum’s Garden Foundation and the Carmel Valley Community Youth Center.
These two videos tell the beautiful stories of Tatum’s Garden and Tatum’s Treehouse becoming reality. The Bakker Construction team is so proud to have helped bring these community-changing spaces to life.
Learn More: The Tatum’s Garden Foundation | Tatum’s Treehouse
