It started a couple years ago when he was looking for playground equipment for his yard with his now 5-year-old daughter, Basia. They visited sites in several towns, doing what he called “playgrounding.”

After thinking it over, he decided he would rather buy equipment for Heights Park rather than just his yard because his daughter would only enjoy it for seven or eight years and it wouldn’t add value to the property. That way she could play with her friends.

The first piece he purchased was a merry-go-round “because they’re missing that over there,” Nowicki said.

“To me that’s a basic piece of equipment from when I was a kid. I just kind of ran with it and before you know it we bought three bigger pieces of equipment — a merry-go-round, a stand-up rocker and something called a nifty twist, which is a plastic disk you stand on it and it spins really fast. It’s great to see high school boys try to challenge each other to see how fast they can spin,” he said.

BASIA NOWICKI, 5, enjoys the new swing purchased by her father, John, for Heights Park in Niagara, Wis. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

“And Basia was willing to share. She wasn’t going to cry about her playground set being over here verses over there. She picked up the saying ‘sharing is caring’ and we carried that on.”

The latest piece of equipment he purchased was a swing with a molded plastic seat. He also bought one for the school district. He got the idea after talking to a special education teacher who mentioned those swings are really good for challenged kids.

It was all going to be an anonymous donation, but City Administrator Audrey Fredrick talked him into taking credit so they could perhaps spur more people to get involved.

“On behalf of the city we’re really grateful to John and his family. I’ve been trying to get grants to get equipment. We’re finalists, but the money stays south,” Fredrick said. “I hope it spearheads more donations. This has got a lot of potential to grow.”

He sees it as a generational gift — the equipment will be used for years by many children.

BASIA NOWICKI with her father, John Nowicki, on the stand-up rocker he purchased for Heights Park in Niagara, Wis. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

“Maybe they have grandchildren that are coming. They remember playing on the original bar equipment that’s still there. Maybe they want to add to the equipment over there,” he said.

“To me that’s the biggest selling point to making a purchase. It is generational gift. Nothing against scholarships. But that benefits one kid and they take that money and go out of town with it,” Nowicki noted.

“You can make a big impact even with a modest estate. It’s a donation where you get to see people using it. To me, it’s one of the coolest gifts you can give. So by me getting this out of my backyard and donated over here — long after I’m gone, kids in Niagara will still be using it,” he said.

The city will have catalogs with equipment if people would like to purchase some or donate money toward the purchase of equipment.

They can make the donations for any of the parks in the city.

“Maybe it will bring people to the community and maybe encourage more families to move here,” Fredrick said.