For children in West Lebanon, playtime just moved a whole lot closer to home. On Thursday, Alpha Delta fraternity teamed up with Home Depot and a national nonprofit to build a playground at the Riverside Community Park in West Lebanon.
KaBOOM!, a non-profit organization that strives to put a park within walking distance of every child in the United States, works with corporate sponsors and community volunteers to realize the projects. Home Depot's current agreement with the organization is to build 1,000 parks in 1,000 days; the Lebanon playground was number 813.
Conor Fernandez '08, a member of Alpha Delta fraternity, approached Home Depot representatives in hopes of convincing KaBOOM! to build in Lebanon. Fernandez said that he felt building in Lebanon would be a positive move toward strengthening Dartmouth's relationship with the Upper Valley community.
"It was a no-brainer, hands-down yes," said Jay Walker, who is a project captain and works in human resources at Home Depot. "The future of community is with the kids. We want to help the community; it shows with all we do. When we hire, we don't look for all these skills, I can train those. I can't train morals and values, those are key indications we look for."
Fernandez worked to bring together representatives from KaBOOM!, Lebanon's Recreation and Parks Department and Dartmouth students and faculty.
"Conor brought all of the partners together, he convinced Home Depot to say they wanted to build there," KaBOOM! representative Laura Toscano said. "He was the thought behind making the project happen."
Planning for the project began with a kickoff meeting this summer, when details of the physical landscape were decided upon. For the past three months, weekly planning meetings were held where AD worked to raise $10,000. Their funds have been matched by Home Depot, which pitched in an additional $40,000, bringing the total to $60,000.
"[The project] brings in kids from around the community, and they get to draw their dream playground and give input on what they want it to look like," Fernandez said.
About 175 volunteers attended the "build day," when they relandscaped the site, repainted existing picnic tables, added a brand new playground and laid the foundation for a volleyball court.
"This is what happens when we work together, in Lebanon especially," said Cindy Heath, the director of Lebanon Recreation and Parks Department. "When you need something, they come out."
Faculty members Tim McNamara and Peter Glenshaw also volunteered, alongside members of the men's rugby team and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Six AD members including Fernandez served as Build Captains, directing groups of people on specific parts of the building project.
Lebanon Mayor Patrick Hayes sawed the opening board at yesterday afternoon's final ceremony. The playground will officially be open and ready to use on Sunday, when there will be an celebratory picnic.
"AD has always had a long history of giving back to the community and there have been a number of community service projects we've been involved with, this is just adding on to that," Fernandez said. "In my senior year, I'm grateful to be able to continue that tradition."
