Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190080
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Spillman will be recognized for selecting the playground's name today during a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony to open officially the handicapped-accessible playground that has bright blue, yellow and red slides and gym bars. Government and school officials from Vinton and Roanoke County will be on hand, and entertainment will be provided by a chorus of children from Cook.
Spillman originally said he didn't know how he came up with the name "Play World."
"I just thought it up," the second-grader later admitted.
His nomination competed with names such as "Slide Away," "Cook's Court," and "Play Master."
Having her son win was "a nice surprise" for Debbie Spillman, who two years ago suggested that Cook should have a playground for the school and community.
Eric Spillman had just been enrolled in kindergarten.
"At that time there wasn't a very good playground at the school, and I noticed that there was not a suitable playground for that neighborhood," Debbie Spillman said.
School administrators and PTA leaders approved her suggestion but didn't immediately take it on as an official project. Debbie Spillman said she was told to work on it in any way she could.
"At first, I worked at it by myself," she said.
Progress was slow, but the turning point came when Deedie Kagey became principal and encouraged the PTA to get more involved in the project, she said.
"When they gave me a committee, things really began happening," she said, adding PTA members began getting contributions of money and materials and promises of labor.
Kagey said that once work started, it became a real community project.
A man who lives across the street from the school came over and offered to lay concrete blocks that were piled at the playground site, Kagey said.
"People who had no connection with the school came by and offered to help," she said. "I've got a three-page list of names of people who helped."
Kagey estimated the playground's value at about $43,000 - $22,000 for the equipment, $15,000 for site preparation and $6,000 for labor to assemble all of the equipment.
The only cash spent, however, was to buy the playground equipment, she said. Everything else was donated.
The money for the equipment came from a number of community sources, including: the Roanoke County Department of Parks and Recreation, which contributed $10,000; the Roanoke Civitan Club, $6,000; the Town of Vinton, $2,500; the Vinton Host Lions Club, $1,000; and the Vinton Bluegrass Festival organization, $500.
The school's PTA members contributed $5,000.
by CNB