Dartmouth volunteers build park in Lebanon
The Riverside Community Park in Lebanon, N.H., was recently the site of an
ambitious building campaign as Dartmouth students from the Alpha Delta (AD)
fraternity and a host of other community members from Dartmouth and the Upper
Valley pitched in to build a 2,500-square-foot playground in a single day. AD,
which raised $10,000 for the effort, partnered with The Home Depot, the Lebanon
Recreation and Parks Department, and organizers from the nonprofit
organization KaBOOM! to build a fun and safe play space for the children and
families of Lebanon.
 Conor Fernandez ’08 (second from left)
participates in the board cutting ceremony with Lebanon, N.H., Mayor Patrick
Hayes (third from left) at the new playground in Riverside Community Park.
About 40 members of Fernandez’s fraternity, Alpha Delta, volunteered in the
building effort. (Photo courtesy Conor Fernandez ’08)
|
KaBOOM!’s mission is to build 1,000 play spaces in 1,000 days, for which the
organization received a $25 million commitment from The Home Depot. Fraternity
member Conor Fernandez ’08, who helped spearhead AD’s involvement, explains,
“AD has a long history of giving back to the community, and this project is
another example of AD’s commitment to be actively involved not only on campus,
but also in the surrounding communities.” Fernandez adds that, “All of the
brothers were very excited about the playground build, and it strengthened our
bond with each other, as well as Dartmouth’s relationship with the Upper Valley
community.”
The volunteers assembled rock-climbing walls, slides, bridges, and a tire
swing. (A volleyball court is scheduled to be added soon.) More than 100
volunteers participated, including approximately 40 members of AD, members of
the Dartmouth rugby team, and a
number of Dartmouth employees. Dartmouth Dining Services volunteered
to provide breakfast and lunch to the hungry construction crew.
Although the playground was erected in one day, prior to the actual building
day, team leaders got together to precut the materials for the play structures.
The idea, explains Fernandez, was to avoid the need for power tools on the
actual day of assembly. After the concrete was given a chance to set, community
members were invited to bring their families to Riverside Park for the grand
opening on Oct. 14. “There were a ton of kids on the playground,” says
Fernandez. “It was great to see everyone finally using it.”
|
RSS/XML Feed