THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503140128
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Some $110,000 short of their goal, volunteers working to build a community playground at Northside Park may have to delay construction until next spring.
``It's hard times (for fund-raising), but people want this to happen,'' said Diane Koffman, one of the project's coordinators. ``It might just take more time to get this together than we originally thought.''
The volunteers need $200,000 to build the 160,000-square-foot playground, similar to the one called Kids' Cove constructed by community volunteers at Mount Trashmore two years ago.
Plans for the Norfolk playground, dubbed ``Imagination Island,'' call for it to be larger than Kids' Cove and entirely barrier-free.
So far, however, volunteers have received only $90,000 in pledges and contributions for the project.
The idea for the playground was hatched by students in three public schools participating in a national pilot program to improve education. In perhaps a first for Norfolk, students and teachers at Norview High School, Rosemont Middle School and Tanners Creek Elementary began last year to elicit community help and financial support to build the structure.
Eventually, they formed a partnership with Norfolk Parks and Recreation and were offered a site at Northside Park. Some 50 schoolchildren, their parents, city officials and other volunteers kicked off the start of fund-raising efforts last October at a daylong festival in the park. At the time, the volunteers hoped to build the playground this spring.
But it doesn't look like that will happen.
``Most of us had never done a massive fund-raising project like this before,'' said Koffman, a Rosemont Middle School teacher whose life-skills class originally came up with the project idea. ``There are a lot of things we've learned. Most of the people involved were inexperienced. Now, we're getting more professionals involved who have the experience in doing this kind of thing, and we're refocusing.''
Some of the newest recruits to the project are members of the Norfolk Kiwanis clubs and executives with William E. Wood & Associates, Koffman said. The real estate company will sponsor a ``Spring Fling'' at Northside Park on May 20 to benefit the project. The event will feature food vendors, a carnival, entertainment and other activities.
Norfolk's Parks and Recreation Department also is planning a benefit for the project April 22. The Earth Day ``March for the Parks'' will be similar to a walk-a-thon, where participants receive pledges for the distances they walk. The march will begin with a rally at 9 a.m., followed by a walk through Northside Park on Tidewater Drive beginning at 10 a.m. The event will conclude at noon with a free picnic lunch for all participants.
Norfolk public school students also have mailed out about 6,000 letters to area businesses, organizations and charities, asking for donations.
``We have been pounding the pavement and trying to make face-to-face contact with people so we can let them know what we're doing and what this project is about,'' Koffman said. ``We're generating a lot of interest, but it's just taking more time than we originally thought.''
Unlike the wooden Kids' Cove, Imagination Island will be equipped with plastic-coated steel playground equipment that covers four play islands connected by dock-style bridges, according to plans. Among the pieces of equipment planned for the playground are a whirlwind slide, spiral climber and overhead flier. ILLUSTRATION: WANT TO HELP?
If you're interested in making a donation to the Imagination
Island playground planned for Northside Park, there are several
options:
Those sponsoring a playground component for donations between
$400 to $8,000 will get their names or their business' names
permanently affixed to the equipment.
For a $25 donation, your name or that of your business will be
engraved on a picket that eventually will become part of a fence
surrounding playground areas.
For those short of cash but long on enthusiasm, volunteers are
needed to help put together ``the giant erector set'' during the
construction phase. When that date will be, however, is yet to be
determined.
Outright contributions will be accepted in any amount.
For more information, contact the Imagination Island Hotline at
853-5066.
by CNB