THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510170089
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover story
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 171 lines
DIANE KOFFMAN WAS clearly excited.
After more than a year of dreaming, planning and fund-raising, the Rosemont Middle School teacher was watching the Imagination Island playground at Northside Park become a reality before her eyes.
``Things couldn't be going any better,'' the coordinator of the community project beamed at noon Saturday as she surveyed dozens of volunteers scattered around the Tidewater Drive park, assembling slides, snapping together climbers, painting pickets, spreading mulch and doing the countless other chores needed to build the 16,000-square-foot playground.
``The skill the community has to just come out here and put this all together is just amazing,'' Koffman said. ``People who are working together, who never knew each other before, are now acting like they've been buddies for life. It's just wonderful the way everyone is pulling together.''
Even the dark clouds looming overhead signaling impending rain could not damper Koffman's spirits.
``It's not going to rain. But if it does, we'll be all right,'' she said. ``We'll work in the rain if we have to.''
Koffman and weekend construction organizer Loraine Perkins figured at least 150 people had worked the first shift of the weekend-long project. Another 150 were expected to show up for the afternoon, and 300 more for the two shifts Sunday.
Volunteers were divided into teams to build specific playground components, or asked to help serve food to volunteers and paint pickets inscribed with the names of donors.
Bayview resident Raymond Hamlett Jr. even offered to camp out with eight teenagers from Boy Scout Troop 188 each night to guard the components during the weekend. After Friday night's camp-out, he and the boys stayed Saturday morning to help build.
``This is like a giant Christmas project,'' Hamlett quipped as he put a few final turns on a bolt holding together some bars on ``Fort Alexander,'' a climbing area for older kids. ``I'm not putting a thing together for Christmas this year. I've done it.''
Helping Hamlett and his scouts were neighbors Keith DeLucenay and Brian Sheridan. The two men, who are brothers-in-law, received assembly instructions Friday night. They took them home and studied them so they'd be ready to build Saturday morning.
``It was pretty awesome,'' admitted Sheridan of the assembly plans. ``But we came this morning with wrenches in hand, got some coffee and donuts and now everybody's pitching in to help, so it's gone pretty easily.''
The three neighbors brought along their wives and children to help, too.
Hamlett's 4-year-old daughter was even making peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches to serve to volunteers.
Explained DeLucenay, who also helped raise funds for the project: ``This is our neighborhood, and we wanted to do anything we could to help out. I'm really surprised at how many people showed up today to help.''
On the other side of Fort Alexander, a group of Old Dominion University engineering students were working with another Bayview resident, Barry Watts, and his 10-year-old son, Daniel, to correctly place a double slide into three large holes so it could be attached to the top of a 6-foot-high platform.
``It's not holding it,'' said Tammy Rossi as she tried to position the legs of the slide into the dirt-filled holes while the three others held the slide in place.
``Here, add these concrete blocks,'' noted Duncan Chalmers, as he tossed some pieces into the holes.
``That's got it,'' Rossi yells back after stabilizing the slide.
While Watts and Garn bolted the slide to the platform, Rossi and Chalmers held the neon-yellow slide stationary.
``Some of this has been hard, but mostly we've done a lot of digging, a lot of filling and a lot of screwing,'' Rossi noted while waiting for the men to finish. ``They had this really well-planned out. My dad's here visiting from Pennsylvania and I even drug him out here with me to help. It's a great cause.''
Another group of ODU students - from the Circle K service organization - had already finished erecting four sets of swings and were munching on hot dogs, subs and hot wings donated by local businesses.
``We're here because kids need somewhere to go,'' explained Courtney Deramus, a 19-year-old elementary education major. ``A playground is the least we can do.''
``It's easier than putting together a VCR,'' added another student, Mindy Kay.
``We have a good time no matter what we're doing,'' noted senior Russell Littlepage. ``So this has been fun.''
Another group of college students, from Virginia Wesleyan's recreation and leisure studies program, were installing plastic sheets of ground cover around a spaceship ``hopper'' in the toddler play area.
``This is more hands-on than what we're used to doing,'' noted Cheryl Olsen, a 21-year-old senior from Virginia Beach. ``Our professor thought it would be good experience for us to help out.''
In addition to Olsen and co-workers Melanie Ludwig and Steve Clark, 37 other students from Virginia Wesleyan volunteered to work Saturday.
Across the lawn from the students, Kristy Hammitt, Moriah Smith and Charles Rhinehart were still busy painting donors' names on wooden pickets. The three friends had been immersed in the project since arriving at 7 that morning, and by noon their hands were splashed with bright yellow and blue paint. With the help of a couple of other volunteers, they estimated they'd completed 74 pickets.
``The area deserves to have this,'' noted Hammitt, a 17-year-old junior at Norview High School. ``The little kids around here don't have anything to play on and this is perfect.''
Rhinehart's sister is one of the students at Rosemont Middle who hatched the idea for the playground more than a year ago. Her family remained involved in the project ever since.
``This is Rosemont's dream and I wanted to be a part of seeing that dream come true,'' said Rhinehard, a 19-year-old Granby High School graduate.
Over by the volunteer registration table, Koffman was ``praying away'' the sprinkling of rain that had just started.
``It will not rain,'' she said, emphatically. ``It will not rain.''
It did rain. Lots, in fact.
But it didn't come until late Saturday night, well after volunteers had finished for the night.
``Everything ran without a glitch yesterday,'' Koffman said Sunday afternoon. ``We got a lot done. But I don't know what's going to happen today.''
After just one day of construction, volunteers were able to finish far more of the structural work and the surface preparation than they originally had anticipated.
But early Sunday morning, after surveying the wet and muddy site, organizers decided to cancel the morning shift. The swing-set area, only partially completed, sat in about eight inches of water.
``I drove over here, and it was totally flooded,'' Perkins said with a sigh. ``I got on the phone and called about 40 people and told them not to come. It's a shame, because we would have been done today.''
But by noon, buoyed by the sunshine, volunteers began arriving anyway.
``Everyone's coming back,'' Koffman noted as she watched the arrivals. ``Even though it's wet, they're saying let's do it anyway.''
The two organizers, however, were being realistic. Perkins admitted volunteers would have to finish the surfacing of the play areas next weekend.
Crew members from the recently decommissioned Navy ship, the Bainbridge, plan on spending the next two weeks finishing a ship sandbox and building a fence that will surround the playground. Professional gardeners also will landscape the area during the next two weeks.
But as they watched volunteers sloshing through mud and children playing on the completed toddler area, Perkins and Koffman were adamant that the opening day celebration for the playground would go on as planned Oct. 28.
``We'll be ready,'' Koffman said. ``We're going to have a great big party to thank everyone for all they've done to make this playground possible. We have such a wonderful community with so many dedicated people. It's been a great experience for Norfolk. Now look, it's just about done. It really came together.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by GARY C. KNAPP
Diane Koffman, the project coordinator for Imagination Island, helps
raise the sign for the new playground at Northside Park.
Volunteers were divided into teams to build specific components for
the 16,000-square-foot playground.
Moriah Smith paints in donors' names for the playground's picket
fence.
Ewing Brown, right, registers volunteers, who came by the dozens.
Diane Koffman calls in volunteers Sunday after many were told it
would be too muddy to work.
Ben Williams dumps a load of gravel into the muddy water created by
Saturday night's rain.
Joyce Vitug and Jaclyn Krenek spread gravel to displace one of many
playground puddles. by CNB