Volunteers needed to help build Flanders playground
Volunteers will be needed on April 13 to build a new community playground at Southampton Town’s Iron Point Park in Flanders.
In 2012, the town won a $15,000 “Let’s Play” grant from Kaboom, a non-profit organization that helps build playgrounds in order to keep kids active. The grant was a matching grant, requiring that another $15,000 be raised for the project, and the grant requires that it be built in one day by the community, according to Nancy Lynott, director of the Southampton Town Youth Bureau, who addressed the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association last Monday.
The grant also requires the park be built by April 30, 2013.
There have been a number of fundraisers held in the past year for the park.
“We’re ready to move on to the next step, which is actually building the playground,” Ms. Lynott told FRNCA.
“I think this is going to be a project that, hopefully, we keep working on,” said FRNCA president Brad Bender. He said they are also hoping to raise funds to improve the scoreboard at Iron Point for the Flanders Little League.
The build date has been set for April 13 at Iron Point Park, which is at the end of Wood Road Trail in Flanders. Work will start at about 8 a.m. and will continue until the playground is finished, Ms. Lynott said. It’s expected to be done by mid-afternoon.
“We need about 75 people there,” Ms. Lynott said. They don’t all have to be adults, as children can help too, but she’s looking for at least 30 to 40 adults to help build the playground.
The Flanders Fire Department, the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance and the Superior Officers Association of the Southampton Town Police Department have agreed to help, and there will be food and refreshments Ms. Lynott said.
“It will be some work, but I think we’re going to have fun, too,” Ms. Lynott told FRNCA.
The playground equipment has been ordered and they have a blueprint for the design of the park. In the week prior the build day, the town parks department will install about 18 posts in cement to support the playground structure. On April 13, volunteers will be adding the playground equipment to the posts, Ms. Lynott said.
The idea for the playground came from local kids who said they had no playground in the area, according to Ms. Lynott. The playground is designed for children between the ages of 5 and 12.
Anyone interested in helping with the playground project should call Karen Hurst at the Youth Bureau at 702-2424 or email her at [email protected].
In the event of bad weather, the playground build will take place on April 20, Ms. Lynott said.
